Tag Archive for: Germinal

Former Lombard Trophy winner joins Germinal Sales Team

/in , , /by

Former Lombard Trophy winner joins Germinal Sales Team: Germinal Amenity, the market leader in the development and supply of specialist seed products for the amenity sector, is delighted to announce the appointment of former Lombard Trophy winner and golf pro, Doug Brolls, as Technical Sales Representative for the Northeast of England and Scotland.

Originally hailing from Scotland and born in Lockerbie, Doug has spent a lifetime playing, coaching, competing and managing golf courses and playing surfaces. He now resides in the Northeast and is a lifelong Sunderland FC supporter.

Former Lombard Trophy winner joins Germinal Sales Team

Former Lombard Trophy winner joins Germinal Sales Team

Doug has extensive knowledge of golf and golf courses, not only in the Northeast and Scotland, but right across the whole of the UK and beyond. This awareness has been cultivated during his life as a golf professional and coach, and a multiple times winner on the North, Northeast and Northwest PGA circuits, and winning the prestigious Lombard International Trophy in Portugal in 1998.

Commenting, Richard Brown, Amenity Director of Germinal GB & Ireland, said:

“We are delighted to welcome Doug to Germinal Amenity. He has a deep understanding of players, customer service, competing and the amenity sports surfaces industry. He also has an extensive knowledge of the Northeast of England and Scotland as a territory.

As a former golfing pro and player at a exceptionally high level, he brings a unique perspective of the quality and standards that turf managers and players demand. He will be a huge addition to our team and for our customers across the sports amenity, turf management and landscape communities. Welcome on board, Doug!”

Commenting, Doug Brolls said:

“I’m very excited to join Germinal Amenity as Technical Sales Representative for Scotland and the Northeast of England. I am looking forward to using my knowledge and background in turf management with golf clubs, sports venues and turf professionals to deliver high-performance, sustainable surfaces using Germinal’s industry-leading seed and grass solutions. I am also really looking forward to reconnecting with familiar faces, meeting new customers and supporting Germinal’s commitment to innovation, quality and sustainability across the sports and amenity sector.”

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

Germinal Amenity announces 2026 grass seed mixtures

/in , /by

Germinal Amenity announces 2026 grass seed mixtures: Germinal Amenity – the market leader in the development and supply of specialist seed products for the amenity sector – is delighted to announce its 2026 A Range of grass seed mixtures specially formulated for golf and sports turf applications. 

For 2026, Germinal Amenity has sought to improve the already impressive A Range mixtures such as Tour Leader, ForeFront Greens and A20 Premier Ryesport by sourcing new, highly rated grass varieties that complement the top-performing varieties bred by its research and development partners, Germinal Horizon, including AberRoyal and AberRegal.

Germinal Amenity announces 2026 grass seed mixtures

Germinal Amenity announces 2026 grass seed mixtures

New Varieties Added

This year, Germinal Amenity is introducing the new creeping bentgrass varieties, ‘Piper’ and ‘777’ to its A Range blends for golf greens. It is also adding the new perennial ryegrass variety, ‘AberWin’, to its top specification A20 Premier Ryesport mixture for winter sports.

With its exceptionally high shoot density – the foundation of good wear tolerance and recovery – and very attractive mid-green colour, the Germinal Horizon-bred ‘AberWin’ scores highly for live ground cover and visual merit all year round, even during the most testing of ground conditions.

‘777’ is the sister grass variety to the market-leading 007 DSB and tops the BSPB Turfgrass Seed List with a shoot density score of 6.8 and visual merit of 7.0. ‘Piper’ is a brand-new variety that will reach the full BSPB list in 2027 and scores even higher with shoot density of 7.2, visual merit of 8.1 and an impressive 7.2 for fineness of leaf.

Shoot density is a key trait that allows these grasses to out compete Poa Annua in golf courses.

Germinal Amenity is adding both ‘777’ and ‘Piper’ to Tour Leader, its landmark creeping bentgrass mixture that provides unrivalled performance, seasonal adaptability, high disease resistance, and vivid colour retention.

‘Piper’ is also being added to its ForeFront Greens which combines the proven performance of the AberMajesty browntop bentgrass blend with the best creeping bents available to ensure the highest levels of disease and stress resistance.

Commenting, Richard Brown, Amenity Director at Germinal, said:

“The availability of both Piper and 777 has been highly anticipated. We are delighted to be able to incorporate them into the A Range mixtures for 2026 where they will support even greater performance on low inputs for greenkeepers.

They will also significantly enhance the genetic diversity of our leading seed blends. Diversity underpins a lot of the performance of grass mixtures; when conditions get tough, the best variety in the blend will step up to do the job, whether this is coping with shade, drought or disease. Diversity reduces risk for greenkeepers and has long been the standard sought in sports turf management, and which we are making available to greenkeepers across the A Range and in our new mixtures for 2026.

Groundskeepers can have even more confidence in our top-spec blend for winter sports, A20 Premium Ryesports, with the inclusion of AberWin which will be the first time this breakthrough, high shoot density perennial ryegrass variety will be available to the amenity sector.” 

The A Range includes the full range of Germinal’s trusted and proven varieties for all landscape, golf and sports turf applications including ForeFront Greens, AberMajesty Blend, A5 Golf Tees and Tour Leader.

The A Range also offers Germinal’s pollinator-friendly wildflower products, including True Meadow. These mixtures have been formulated for a wide range of developed areas and natural habitats. They also include Regional Environmental (RE) mixtures which meet the requirements of government-sponsored biodiversity schemes in the UK.

The 2026 brochures from Germinal offer guides to unique ranges of grass, clover and wildflora amenity mixtures and are available now at germinalamenity.com or from Germinal Amenity’s Technical Sales and Amenity Turf Advisers.

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

Germinal launches new Climate Smart ‘A Range’

/in , /by

Germinal launches new Climate Smart ‘A Range’: Germinal Amenity – a market leader in the development and supply of specialist seed products for the amenity sector – has launched a new range of Climate Smart seed products specially formulated for landscape projects, architecture, golf and sports turf applications. 

This new range – called the ‘A Range’ from Germinal – places sustainability centre stage to meet the full breadth of requirements of landscape architects and turf professionals. The new range combines trusted performance grasses with new, resilient clovers and nature-positive wildflower mixes that support the transition to greater sustainability in landscape projects, amenity grass and sports turf management.

Germinal launches new Climate Smart ‘A Range’

Germinal launches new Climate Smart ‘A Range’

The A Range includes four new Climate Smart seed products that incorporate cutting-edge innovations in plant varietal development from Germinal’s R&D division, Germinal Horizon. These include DoubleRoot, a hybrid clover that produces both stolons and underground rooting stems called rhizomes. DoubleRoot fixes free atmospheric nitrogen for companion grasses, can withstand extremes of temperature and drought, and holds up under mowing. DoubleRoot combines low-maintenance with significant environmental benefits.

The new Climate Smart A Range products are:

ASustain – a low maintenance, self-sustaining grass seed mixture that contains the DoubleRoot hybrid clover providing a sustainable surface for landscape projects, solar farms, domestic lawns, road verges and green roofs.

A18 Road Verge & Embankments – especially developed for road verges and embankments which includes resilient grass varieties and DoubleRoot; this mixture revitalises grassed areas and enhances both wildlife habitats and soil health.

A35 Sandy Soils – a hybrid mixture of grasses, selected herbs and wildflowers formulated for road verges on sandy soils to deliver exceptional environmental performance.

A36 Loamy & Clay Soils – a versatile mixture for more productive loamy and clay soils that combines durable grasses, herbs, and wildflowers to deliver exceptional biodiversity and sustainability for a range of amenity areas.

Commenting, Richard Brown, Germinal Amenity Director UK & Ireland, said:

“The challenges around how we achieve Net Zero and adapt to changing climatic conditions has brought environmental sustainability into sharp focus. It has become a key concern for landscape architects, greenkeepers and the wider turf community.  Designers and grounds keepers are looking at how we use scarce resources such as water, and how we can lower or even eliminate the need for fertilisers and pesticides, and support greater biodiversity in our turf management. The plants we grow also need to be resilient in the face of a changing climate.

“The A Range has been developed with sustainability at its core, but without sacrificing performance. It includes tried and trusted mixes together with our new Climate Smart products in new formulations that incorporate significant innovation.

“We are also backing the breadth and innovation at the heart of the A Range with experienced technical advice and information resources available directly from our Ireland and GB sales teams and online through the Germinal Knowledge Hub.”

The A Range includes the full range of Germinal’s trusted and proven seed products for all landscape, golf and sports turf applications including ForeFront Greens, AberMajesty Blend, A5 Golf Tees and Tour Leader.

The A Range also offers Germinal’s pollinator-friendly wildflower products, including True Meadow. These mixtures have been formulated for a wide range of developed areas and natural habitats. They also include Regional Environmental (RE) mixtures which meet the requirements of government-sponsored biodiversity schemes in the UK.

The new A Range catalogues from Germinal offers a guide to this unique range of grass, clover and wildflora amenity seed products and are available at germinalamenity.com.

Celebrating 200 Years of Innovation

In 2025, Germinal, Germinal Amenity and their parent group, Openfolde, celebrate 200 years of operations as family-owned businesses. Their mission is to support farming and the amenity sector with innovative products that are developed with a passion for science, research, technical advice and the considerable time needed to develop high performing plant varieties that meet their customers’ requirements for performance and sustainability.

Germinal is a market leader in developing and supplying seeds and climate smart seed mixtures in Great Britain, Northern Ireland, the Republic of Ireland and New Zealand. Its R&D division – Germinal Horizon – develops plant varieties in collaboration with the Institute of Biological, Environmental and Rural Sciences (IBERS) at Aberystwyth University and at its field trials centre in Wiltshire.

Germinal is also a lead partner in Project NUE-Leg, the UK government-funded multi-partner and multi-location project that seeks to maximise the nitrogen-fixing potential of legumes to reduce emissions in grassland farming, and reduce the need for bought-in nitrogen fertilisers.

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.

Germinal appoints sales representative

/in , /by

Germinal appoints sales representative: Germinal has recruited Stuart Tait as its new Amenity Technical Sales Representative for Scotland and the North East of England.

Based from his home in East Lothian, Stuart will provide technical sales support to Germinal’s customers throughout Scotland and North East England, and will be responsible for promoting the company’s popular range of Grade-A sports and amenity grass seed mixtures to golf course greenkeepers, turf growers, sports groundsmen and landscapers.

Germinal appoints sales representative

Germinal appoints sales representative

Stuart will also be responsible for promoting Germinal’s specialist amenity fertiliser range which includes conventional compound products as well as liquid and phased-release fertilisers and specialist sward conditioners. He will also promote Germinal’s range of regional and general landscaping wildflower seed mixtures.

Stuart joins Germinal with 17-years’ worth of experience within the turf industry: he started his career as a trainee greenkeeper at Gullane Golf Club (No.1 course) in East Lothian before working his way up from assistant greenkeeper to head greenkeeper at The Renaissance Club, North Berwick. For the past three and half years he has worked in sales orientated roles, initially spending a year with Sherriff Groundcare before joining Reesink Turfcare as the company’s area sales manager for the Lothians, Borders and Fife where he has been selling Toro equipment to customers in the golf and groundcare sectors.

“Stuart is a very experienced turf care specialist with a huge amount of experience not only in terms of golf course maintenance, but also within the wider sports ground and landscaping sectors,” says Richard Brown, Germinal Amenity Sales Manager. “He is also well known to many within Scotland’s golf and turfgrass sectors and as such is well positioned to promote Germinal’s wide range of specialist grass seed and wildflower mixtures throughout his sales territory.”

Stuart can be contacted via the following:

Mobile: 07887 578802

Email: stuart.tait@germinal.com

Web: www.germinalamenity.com

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.

Germinal launch new bentgrass mixture

/in , /by

Germinal launch new bentgrass mixture: Germinal has launched an all-new grass seed mixture designed specifically for golf greens. 

‘Tour Leader’ – a 50:50 blend of 007 DSB and new cultivar Tour Pro (GDE) – is a landmark in the evolution of creeping bentgrass products: this exceptional blend sets the bar high with unrivalled performance, seasonal adaptability, high disease resistance and vivid colour retention.

Germinal launch new bentgrass mixture

Germinal launch new bentgrass mixture

Tour Pro (GDE) is the latest creeping bentgrass to join Germinal’s class-leading portfolio: having excelled in the National Turfgrass Evaluation Program (NTEP) in the United States (where it is ranked in the top five of 20 varieties in all trial categories and the highest rated of all commercially available bentgrasses), this top-performing variety has recently achieved the highest mean score (6.8) for creeping bentgrasses as a new cultivar on table G1 of the 2021 BSPB list. It has also been awarded the highest score for shoot density (6.6) and visual merit (7.0) for a creeping bentgrass.

Cultivar Shoot density Visual merit Mean Fineness of leaf Resistance to Red Thread Winter greenness Summer greenness
007 DSB 6.4 6.5 6.4 6.4 5.9 6.9 5.4
Tour Pro (GDE) 6.6 7.0 6.8 6.0 – 6.8 5.2

Source: BSPB, Turfgrass Seed 2021, Table G1 Creeping bentgrasses (Agrostis stolonifera)

“Tour Pro (GDE) was selected as the next variety to join our creeping bent portfolio thanks to its low input requirement,” explains Richard Brown, Amenity Sales Manager for Germinal. “This enables greenkeepers to demote Poa annua by implementing management strategies which place the latter under stress, thereby allowing Tour Pro (GDE) to gain the upper hand and dominate the sward.

“By pairing Tour Pro (GDE) with 007 DSB we have created a seed mixture with enough genetic diversity to ensure golf greens remain in good condition all year round irrespective of what the weather might throw at them: with the UK’s variable weather patterns meaning no two seasons are ever the same, Tour Leader’s unrivalled performance in terms of drought and cold weather tolerance, disease resistance, wear tolerance and visual merit make it the ideal over-seeding and reseeding mixture for modern golf greens.”

With limited stocks of Tour Pro (GDE) available in 2021, Tour Leader is anticipated to sell out quickly. “As such sales are strictly on a first-come, first-served basis,” Richard continues. “We therefore recommend that anyone interested in using creeping bents to convert their greens away from Poa annua should act quickly to ensure they are able to secure the necessary quantity of seed.”

Tour Leader – key qualities:

  • Superb Dollar Spot, Anthracnose, Fusarium and Brown Patch resistance
  • Adaptable to all UK climates
  • Tolerant of close mowing regimes (as low as 3mm)
  • Low seedling mortality rates compared to browntops and fescues: resulting in faster species conversion away from Poa annua
  • Very tolerant of drought and cold conditions
  • Sustainable input requirement: UK users average 92 kg N per annum with reduced chemical usage
  • Recommended sowing rate: 8-12 g/m2 (80-120 kg/Ha)
  • Recommended overseeding rate: 5-8 g/m2 (50-80 kg/Ha)

Tour Pro (GDE) and Tour Leader are available exclusively in the UK from Germinal. For more information visit www.germinalamenity.com or call 01522 868714.

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.