Technical - Soil Biology


Grow in times


Reduce the cost of


Symbio’s Martin Ward says that, if we could halve the time taken to grow in new sports pitches, golf courses or bowling greens, the cost of construction would be substantially reduced and income generated to pay off the costs sooner


Rootzone preparation


Many turf professionals who have grown in a pitch or golf course will be familiar with the


122 I PC JUNE/JULY 2016


construction T


he specifications for most sports turf construction focuses on the physical elements of particle size, percolation rates and drainage. The physical elements are very important for the


long term management of the sward, but do not address the plants requirements for rapid early growth.


Unfortunately, many agronomists and architects overlook the basic chemical nutrition and microbial elements required by the grass plant when specifying the materials to be used during the construction phase, leaving the grow in manager to force the grass with excessive inputs of fertiliser and water.


need for heavy fertiliser inputs to make up for chemical and biological deficiencies in the rootzone. It is quite disheartening for a turf manager or agronomist to look at the chemical soil analysis of a newly sown pitch or green and find it with a very low cation exchange capacity (CEC) and almost totally devoid of the essential nutrients - calcium, magnesium, potassium and phosphate - and the organic matter needed to support the biology necessary for healthy plant growth.


Get the chemistry right


It is much easier to get the correct chemical balance in the rootzone before sowing or turfing, by simply mixing the nutrients with the rootzone material at source, than it is to try and push granular amendments through tine holes in densely sown grass.


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