TENNIS


Centre Court set up for play during the playing season


are of particular interest to those of us who maintain turf because one of their main functions is to promote cell elongation within grass plants. In basic terms, they make the grass grow vertically.


The major upside to Trinexapac-ethyl has always been that it only inhibits vertical growth. Old school growth regulators were really growth retardants; they had the eff ect of holding a plant in a sort of suspension, eff ectively mothballing it, until the active ingredient had worn off . These sorts of products were purely made with the intention of reducing the need for more frequent mowing, and in many cases negatively impacted the overall health of the turf.


However, with the advent of active ingredients such as Trinexapac-ethyl, which only stop the vertical growth, we’ve been able to be more precise in how we regulate, or to be more accurate, manipulate the growth of the plants we look after. By inhibiting the Gibberellin activity within grass plants, we can pause vertical growth. However, the plant will still be carrying out all its other normal functions, and so the energy it is generating needs to be utilised in other ways. This is why these sorts of products are able to thicken grass swards; they cause the individual grass plants to push more resource into creating broader plant leaves which make the sward denser, as well as encouraging greater development


of root systems.


Ultimately, this has been the reason why we’ve used Primo Maxx as part of our management of our courts for so long. We’d use it regardless of whether or not it induced a reduction in clipping yield (mowing); we’re after the physiological changes it makes to the structure of the grass plant. It makes the surface denser, more wear resilient, and more aesthetically pleasing due to the improved uniformity. In this context, it would be more than reasonable to ask us why we’ve decided to look at a diff erent Plant Growth Regulator. After all, we’ve had no qualms with the eff ectiveness of Trinexapac-ethyl since we began using it. Indeed, one of my favourite pieces of advice to give to a groundsman is to stop and think about why you are doing something; if you can’t explain why you are doing it, you almost certainly shouldn’t do it! For us though, the potential advantages of moving to Attraxor were too great not to at least consider using it, while the risks associated with moving products were minimal. On top of this, we also hypothesised a potential advantage in our scenario from using Attraxor, which would


With 2020 not being a ‘normal’ year, and capacity pressures mandating a longer grass court season, we put ourselves in a position whereby we would keep all eight courts open


Centre Court during 2020 playing season 92 PC February/March 2021


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