NEWS
Agreement expands Aquatrols offering Aquatrols and Redox Turf announced a global exclusive strategic agreement in January which made Aquatrols the sole distributor of Redox’s premier turf products. This expands the Aquatrols offering, with a range of highly effective, differentiated nutritional products that are complementary to the existing wetting agent line. “Soil moisture management and soil nutrition are
intrinsically linked, so joining forces with the most trusted brands in the wetting agent space is a move that seemed natural for our business,” explained Redox CEO, Darin Moon. “We are eager to be able to offer turf customers easy access to our products
through Aquatrols who will provide global support through their sales and technical team.” Currently in his third year as Aquatrols’ President and CEO, Matthew Foster, said that this agreement was one which would strategically help Aquatrols continue
to expand their presence in the global golf market. “This agreement gives us the ability to offer turf managers the nutritional components of a maintenance programme from a trusted brand within the industry, in conjunction with our current water management products “By bringing our areas of expertise together, we will be able to better serve our customers in a way that is more holistic for their course.”
MM seed is first-class at Oxford University Jon Buddington, Grounds Manager at Oxford University, has reported excellent results from using a range of Limagrain’s MM grass seed. Academic success aside, the University has produced 120 Olympic medal winners and is currently ranked among the top British universities for sport thanks to coaching and student commitment. Oxford University Sport manages the University sports facilities at Iffley Road Sports Centre and the sports pitches within University Parks and on Marston Road. The man tasked with maintaining these wonderful facilities, which consists of 24 hectares of grass surfaces, is Jon Buddington, who has been the University’s Grounds Manager for two years. As a frequent user of Limagrain seed throughout his 30-year career history, Jon was not surprised to see Limagrain’s MM50 seed performing well on a newly constructed cricket square upon the start of his tenure at the University. 8 | Turf Matters | SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 2020
“The new cricket square was overseeded with MM50 and because of the great results we continued to use it,” he said. “Now we overseed with MM50 at the end of the cricket season and put a bit on pre-season just before we start rolling. “We find that we get incredible results by overseeding with MM50 in the early spring when the surface is still damp, just before we start any heavy maintenance. It has been a very good seed for us especially for cricket - the MM50 has very good wear tolerance and we hardly ever get any debris.” As Jon explained, MM50
- a blend of fine-leaved ryegrasses - is ideal for cricket squares and outfields. This hard-wearing mix has rapid germination, very fine leaved appearance, high shoot density and is tolerant to very close mowing, along with high disease resistance. All these attributes together produce a fantastic sward that has great colour all year round. It is also widely praised for its rapid recovery. In the early stages of his new position at Oxford, Jon’s attentions soon turned towards the winter pitches. After consultation with supplier, MW Turfcare, he was advised to try Limagrain’s MM60 seed on the rugby and football pitches.
This 100% ryegrass formula is renowned for producing an excellent playing surface. It is perfect for renovation and divot repair, has a high disease resistance, fantastic aesthetic qualities and offers extremely fast germination – which is boosted by the inclusion of Headstart GOLD®. “We renovate and overseed with MM60 at the end of the rugby and football seasons which all depends on fixtures which can be often drawn out depending on the weather and internal college games. Generally, we tend to apply MM60 to these pitches at the end of May and we get very good germination.” In terms of applying MM seed, Jon admits to veering away from recommended rates. “For me, it’s all about feel and visual. We don’t go by religious sowing rates or anything like that. In my opinion it is about getting as much grass in there as you can especially when you are taking it out and raking it and preparing cricket pitches.” www.lgseeds.co.uk/mm