Tag Archive for: DLF

Ben Morgan becomes new DLF Amenity Technical Manager

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Ben Morgan becomes new DLF Amenity Technical Manager: DLF are pleased to announce the appointment of Ben Morgan as their new Regional Amenity Technical Manager for the North East.

With more than two decades of hands-on experience in the turf industry, Ben is well placed to support customers across the DLF portfolio of brands on grass seed selection and sustainable surface management.

Ben Morgan becomes new DLF Amenity Technical Manager

Ben Morgan becomes new DLF Amenity Technical Manager

Driven by a sense of accomplishment in growing businesses and solving challenges, Ben is a true professional who takes pride in every blade of grass he nurtures – and having been in the industry for 24 years, that’s a lot of blades! During his tenure as a Consultant Agronomist for the STRI Group, Ben developed a deep technical knowledge and understanding which was combined with a genuine passion for sustainable turfgrass management. Holding a BSc (Hons) and a Foundation Degree in Sustainable Turfgrass Management, along with BASIS and FACTS certifications, he’s built an impressive career across technical sales roles within Countrywide, AGS and Origin.

Ben’s expertise extends beyond the theory, with years of ‘on-the-tool’ greenkeeping work in both the UK and USA under his belt. His career highlights include working at prestigious sites such as St Andrews’ The Old Course and Pinehurst Golf Resort in North Carolina USA. Whether as a greenkeeper or an agronomist, Ben has cultivated a reputation for delivering results and tackling turfgrass challenges, with a firm belief that seed holds the key to many future solutions.

On his new position, Ben comments, “As a self-confessed turf enthusiast, working with the team at DLF was an opportunity I could not turn down. The incredible research and development taking place across DLF’s global breeder network puts us in great stead to provide the right solutions for our customers now and long into the future. I look forward to hitting the road and helping facilities across the sporting spectrum to make informed, tailored decisions on their seed selection over the coming months and years.”

When not ‘talking turf’, Ben enjoys a range of different hobbies. You’ll often find him fishing for barbel on the River Derwent or tending to his 15 colonies of bees. A black belt in kickboxing, he balances a love for precision and discipline with an appreciation for light-hearted banter with colleagues, customers and friends.

Ben can be contacted on 07801 459623 or via email on Ben.Morgan@dlf.com

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Wildflower from DLF helps Celtic Manor

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Wildflower from DLF helps Celtic Manor: It’s been a great start to 2025 for the team at Celtic Manor who, following the introduction of numerous new sustainability initiatives, have received GEO certification on The Twenty Ten Course.

Part of the overall project saw the establishment of new wildflower areas to bring much-needed food and habitat for pollinators and other insects, along with high visual impact for players and staff alike – all achieved using mixtures from the DLF ColourBoost collection.

Wildflower from DLF helps Celtic Manor

Wildflower from DLF helps Celtic Manor

Overseeing the conservation projects across all three Championship courses is Environment and Ecology Stewardship Manager Gary Connell, who has been at the resort for over 25 years. Having worked in head greenkeeping roles on both sites, he is well placed to develop and diversify both the habitat and native wildlife in this new role. “We’ve always supported a broad range of insects, birds and other fauna here at Celtic Manor but, like most golf clubs, we recognise we can do more” Gary says. “Working closely with local wildlife groups we have added more bird and bat boxes, introduced bug hotels and even established our own resident honeybees! Introducing wildflowers promised to further support the success of these initiatives as well as bring visual interest to lesser managed areas of the site.”

With little prior wildflower experience, Gary consulted with DLF Regional Technical Manager Ian Barnett on the best and most suitable mixtures for the project. “Our resort and land provide almost limitless opportunities for wildflowers, but we wanted to focus our efforts on a few areas which could be sustainably implemented, maintained and monitored. Ian identified an area near the main entrance and recommended Floral Carpet from the ColourBoost range.”

Floral Carpet is one of nine ColourBoost mixtures, each designed to bring maximum visual impact by incorporating both wild flower and garden flowering species. For situations where final growing height is important Floral Carpet is ideal, using lower growing season annuals to provide rich blooms throughout the season.

“Our objectives were to bring high impact colour at the resort entrance, provide invaluable insect habitat and a source of pollen and nectar, and I’m pleased to say we achieved all three. We saw a wide array of flowers which attracted honeybees, butterflies and some different moth species. We then let the seed heads drop and supplemented this with some additional seeding with ColourBoost Carnival which should result in earlier flowering in the spring. We also did some ‘seed bombs’ in areas including an embankment in The Twenty Ten car park to boost presentation.”

While mother nature hasn’t necessarily been on side for all of the club’s projects, Gary is optimistic on the potential in the coming year. “We sowed some DLF ProFlora 3 & 6 on the Roman Road course which will complement the existing native grasses and flowers we have on the 15th fairway and behind the 14th green. The rain dampened its full potential during the summer however we were all pleasantly surprised to see this surviving into the winter, which bodes well for what we can expect come the spring.” He concludes, “This work will continue as we work towards GEO certification for the Roman Road and Montgomery courses, collectively known as The Championship courses, to our recent successes on The Twenty Ten.”

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Sustainable seed solutions from DLF

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Sustainable seed solutions from DLF: 2025 sees an exciting shake up in the sustainable seed solutions available from DLF and visitors to stand 126 at BTME 2025 can be some of the first the find out what’s new.

Among the changes is the exciting introduction of Sybille – a new slender creeping red fescue cultivar, bringing its No.1 ranking for close mown turf to a number of mixtures across the updated Johnsons Sports Seed lineup. Also new is an expanded Ultrafine Rye range which promises fast establishment, high wear tolerance and aesthetic quality for the golf and bowls market.

Sustainable seed solutions from DLF

Sustainable seed solutions from DLF

In their pursuit for ever-improved sustainability, DLF have introduced Sybille slender creeping red fescue. With its high density and disease tolerance, Sybille helps to supress unwanted weeds and diseases, reducing the need for pesticides. Not just a good choice for the environment and your budget, Sybille features fine leaves and beautiful summer colour making it a top-class variety for low mown areas delivered with high visual quality.

Also of significant interest for turf managers is the expanded range of Johnsons Sports Seed Ultrafine Perennial Ryegrass (PRG) mixtures. Building on the success of J Ultrafine Rye 100, DLF has introduced additional 25% and 50% formulations to provide turf managers with versatile, sustainable options for golf and bowling greens. The incredibly high wear tolerance, bolstered by the exceptionally fine leaf and high shoot density of Duranova, also makes the Ultrafine PRG range ideal high-traffic areas like tees, fairways, pathways, tennis courts and cricket outfields.

Stand 126 is the place to learn more about other developments across the DLF portfolio, such as the increased UK wildflower production to support demand and the growth of their ProFlora and ColourBoost ranges which are ideal for increasing biodiversity and colour on the golf course. It is also where you can have your say in shaping seed mixtures of the future by taking part in DLF’s Disease Watch Programme. DLF are actively seeking feedback and insights on the types and severity of diseases you are witnessing to develop future research, trials and breeding programmes. Those that share their experiences are not only helping to improve the performance of seed mixtures of the future, they can also win some excellent prizes in the process.

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DLF supports top-level sport at Cranleigh School

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DLF supports top-level sport at Cranleigh School: While the challenges of managing the multi-sport surfaces at Cranleigh School may be akin to those faced by most in the education sector, here they’re on a mammoth scale!

With 248 acres of sports pitches, grounds and gardens to keep in quality condition year-round, the priorities when it comes to seed selection is reliability, versatility and tolerance for wear and tear. This, according to Deputy Grounds Manager Andy Burke, they’re achieving with mixtures from across the DLF and Johnsons Sports Seed ranges.

DLF supports top-level sport at Cranleigh School

DLF supports top-level sport at Cranleigh School

Cranleigh is one of Surrey’s leading co-educational independent schools and notes a number of leading public figures and some seriously sporty alumni over its 150+ year history. Its high sporting calibre is perhaps unsurprising given the scope of the surfaces available to pupils which includes 21 winter sports pitches, 8 cricket pitches and a 9-hole golf course. When Andy joined the school 9 and a half years ago, mixtures from the Masterline and Johnsons Sports Seed ranges were already used site-wide, and he goes on to explain why this has continued.

“In our environment, and with the sheer scale of facilities, our scheduling of operations and renovations has to be pretty strict which ultimately means we are often putting seed in the ground when conditions aren’t perhaps optimal. For example, in the Spring of 2022 we carried out extensive overseeding on our cricket outfields and winter sports pitches using Johnsons J4Turf and PM81 from the Masterline seed range. Then, despite seeing very little rain until the start of September, our grounds team were incredibly impressed that after a dormant period we saw strong growth and incredible drought recovery at the first drop of moisture. The result was quality playing surfaces that looked good and performed evenly.”

Johnsons J 4Turf and J Premier Wicket are used on the cricket outfields and squares, which host upwards of 250 games a year. “The turnaround and level of wear is intensive, but we’ve found this combination of mixtures withstands the high level of play, recovering quickly and coping with climatic conditions – be those dry like last summer or wetter as we’ve had throughout 2024.”

The cricket outfields are cut down to 16mm until the last game of the season, then will be left to grow to 32mm where they will then play a critical part in a packed rugby programme. “This is where the seed really gets tested as the demands of rugby will push wear tolerance to the limit! We’ve always found the strong bladed and deep rooting DLF and Johnsons mixtures can handle that, before being taken down to 26mm for football.”

Masterline PM81 is ideally suited to the renovation and repair of winter sports pitches, multi-purpose fields and racecourses. The 100% perennial ryegrass mix delivers outstanding versatility, sward density and year-round colour. Beside this, J 4turf and J Premier Wicket, Andy and the team are also using Johnsons J Rye Green on their golf greens and Masterline PM51 Greenscape as a general, high-performance mixture for landscaping and hard-wearing lawns.

He concludes, “It’s ultimately these mixtures that are the foundation to everything we oversee in our department and that year after year give us the quality and, importantly, the versatility to sustain such a high level of sport.”

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DLF announce new ‘Showcase’ facility

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DLF announce new ‘Showcase’ facility: Work is underway on a brand new ‘Showcase’ facility at DLF’s UK headquarters in Inkberrow, Worcestershire. Scheduled to be fully operational by Spring 2025, the Showcase sees six hectares dedicated to amenity seed trials, product development, training and education for staff, distributors and customers – making it one of the largest of its kind in the UK.

Alongside plots sown with current cultivars and mixtures, the Showcase will have an area dedicated to new and upcoming developments giving visitors the chance to exclusively see and compare future trial and demo formulations. It will also be the base for a sizeable programme of UK testing which feeds into the global picture of climate and disease tolerance trials, ensuring that the mixtures of tomorrow are the most resistant, fit for purpose and sustainable to tackle the environmental challenges faced in the amenity market.

DLF announce new ‘Showcase’ facility

DLF announce new ‘Showcase’ facility

Centre to the Showcase will be a sports zone, featuring a hybrid winter sports pitch, cricket wicket, tennis court and small-scale golf tee, fairway and green, sown with mixtures from across the DLF portfolio by specialist contactors Fineturf who were commissioned with the construction. Having worked with many of the UK’s leading sporting venues including Lords Cricket Ground, AELTC and Tottenham Hotspur FC, Fineturf were the ideal fit for the project, utilising the very latest in their hybrid turf technology.

Commenting on the work, Amenity Sales & Marketing Manager Derek Smith said, “It’s incredibly exciting to see the start of what promises to be an industry-leading facility and asset to the Johnsons Sports Seed, Masterline and MM Seed brands. A big thank you to the Fineturf team for their work to date, and over the next six months we look forward to the construction of new conference facilities and the continued extension of the sample plots to give us a fully-functioning training centre come the Spring.”

The exciting news is the latest in a programme of ongoing investment by the world’s leading grass seed breeders. The end of 2023 saw the installation of Inkberrow’s new £3.5m ‘Titan’ mixing plant technology, together with recent expansion of DLF’s UK native wild flower production which now spans an area of over 80 acres.

Further updates on the project are expected in the new year.

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