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4turf® delivers a sustainable drought-tolerant sward

February 16, 2023/in News, Press Release/by Louise Challiss

4turf® delivers a sustainable drought-tolerant sward: Opened in late 2019, Stoneham Lane Football Complex comprises 64sq.Km of artificial and natural sports pitches – supporting grass roots football for players of all ages and abilities. Part of the FA’s Parklife Project, the maintenance of the Complex falls under the remit of Hampshire FA Facility Operations Manager […]

Retail area announced at GroundsFest

February 16, 2023/in News, Press Release/by Lucy Nicholls

Retail area announced at GroundsFest: Organisers of GroundsFest have announced a retail area – the largest ever seen at a groundscare event. This will allow visitors to purchase a wide range of products, tools, clothing, and accessories at a discounted rate. The retail area is being organised by FR Jones and Son, a family run […]

4turf® delivers a sustainable drought-tolerant sward

February 16, 2023/in News, Press Release/by Louise Challiss

Retail area announced at GroundsFest

February 16, 2023/in News, Press Release/by Lucy Nicholls

Full Sized Blog Element (Big Preview Pic)

4turf® delivers a sustainable drought-tolerant sward

February 16, 2023/in News, Press Release/by Louise Challiss

4turf® delivers a sustainable drought-tolerant sward: Opened in late 2019, Stoneham Lane Football Complex comprises 64sq.Km of artificial and natural sports pitches – supporting grass roots football for players of all ages and abilities.

Part of the FA’s Parklife Project, the maintenance of the Complex falls under the remit of Hampshire FA Facility Operations Manager Pete Hussey who, in conjunction with seed from DLF, keeps the five grass pitches fit for more than 425 matches per season.

4turf® delivers a sustainable drought-tolerant sward

Alongside the Stoneham Lane facility in Eastleigh, Pete also manages operations at the Winklebury Football Complex in Basingstoke and the Front Lawn Community Hub in Havant – all designed to support and fund grass roots sport within the local area. “I’ve been in this role for three and a half years, but have worked with DLF for 17 years, having used various seed formulations at my previous venue” explains Pete.

“When Stoneham was constructed, one of the major focuses was on drainage – giving us incredible infiltration rates in the region of 52mm per hour. However, the flip side of that is that we have no irrigation meaning that in the dry months, pitches struggle to retain moisture and thin out quickly.” Foreseeing the challenges that lay ahead, Pete spoke to his DLF Regional Technical Manager Ian Barnett to explore more drought-tolerant varieties – and just in time, before one of the most prolonged droughts experienced in the UK, in the summer of 2022!

“We opted to switch from the 100% diploid perennial ryegrass mix to Johnsons J 4Turf 50, sown in May 2022, and we couldn’t have been more impressed with the results.” J 4Turf 50 incorporates 4turf^® tetraploid perennial ryegrass, a larger seed with higher energy reserves to deliver deeper rooting, better establishing plants – including in cooler temperatures – with enhanced colour, disease resistance and drought tolerance. The 2023 formulation contains 50% 4turf^® tetraploid rye and 50% diploid perennial ryegrass.

“The J 4Turf 50 established well before the hot conditions arrived. We were limited on how much water we could get onto the pitches and were thinking we would need to do a lot of recovery work ahead of the new season, however after the rain returned, the pitches recovered amazingly! We didn’t need to do any additional overseeding or fertilising, we relied on mother nature and the seed to do what it promised it would, and it did exactly that.”

Pete continues, “As the season progressed, the J 4Turf 50 coped with the high wear, recovered fast and remained strong enough that we saw no disease activity at all last year. In fact the pitches looked so good, we were able to wait until after Christmas to put a feed down.” He adds, “This switch has given us everything we want in terms of performance, but more than that, has moved us towards a lower input sward which is more sustainable to manage.”

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Retail area announced at GroundsFest

February 16, 2023/in News, Press Release/by Lucy Nicholls

Retail area announced at GroundsFest: Organisers of GroundsFest have announced a retail area – the largest ever seen at a groundscare event. This will allow visitors to purchase a wide range of products, tools, clothing, and accessories at a discounted rate.

The retail area is being organised by FR Jones and Son, a family run business that offers over 10,000 groundscare and arboriculture products from over 100 leading brands.

Retail area announced at GroundsFest

Commenting on the retail area, GroundsFest’s Sales Director Charles Neale said: “We know from our research that this retail area will be very popular with attendees. FR Jones and Son have an extremely large following and the area will attract thousands of groundscare professionals to GroundsFest. They have a wide range of products suitable for budgets of all sizes and it will be a fantastic opportunity for visitors to walk away with some incredible discounts which will only be available at GroundsFest.”

FR Jones and Son have been trading in the industry since 1963 and have expanded significantly in the last few years. It is now one of the leading suppliers of professional grounds maintenance and arboriculture equipment in the UK.

Managing Director Justin Jones is excited to be a part of the event.

“GroundsFest is a really exciting concept,” he said. “The industry has been crying out for a national event in the summer which features outdoor demonstrations and GroundsFest ticks every box. Many of our customers are already looking forward to it and I think the event is going to be very well attended.

“As a company, we are delighted to be involved. We are going to have a fantastic line-up of products on display at GroundsFest, and we will be offering exclusive discounts on selected items which will only be available for visitors throughout the two days. Our large team has plenty of experience and product knowledge and they will be out in force at GroundsFest to help visitors make the right decisions.

“We look forward to meeting thousands of existing and new customers in September.”

GroundsFest is taking place at Stoneleigh Park, Warwickshire on 20 and 21 September 2023.

For more information, please visit www.groundsfest.com

You can also follow GroundsFest on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram @GroundsFest for much more news, reviews and insightful views.

For the latest industry news visit turfmatters.co.uk/news

Get all of the big headlines, pictures, opinions and videos on stories that matter to you.

Follow us on Twitter and Instagram for fun, fresh and engaging content.

You can also find us on Facebook for more of your must-see news, features, videos and pictures from Turf Matters.

Half Sized Blog Element (Single Author Style)

Half Sized Blog Element (Multi Author Style)

4turf® delivers a sustainable drought-tolerant sward

Retail area announced at GroundsFest

4turf® delivers a sustainable drought-tolerant sward

Retail area announced at GroundsFest

Full Sized Blog Element (Big Preview Pic)

4turf® delivers a sustainable drought-tolerant sward

4turf® delivers a sustainable drought-tolerant sward: Opened in late 2019, Stoneham Lane Football Complex comprises 64sq.Km of artificial and natural sports pitches – supporting grass roots football for players of all ages and abilities.

Retail area announced at GroundsFest

Retail area announced at GroundsFest: Organisers of GroundsFest have announced a retail area – the largest ever seen at a groundscare event. This will allow visitors to purchase a wide range of products, tools, clothing, and accessories at a discounted rate.

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