Tag Archive for: Johnsons

100% fescue delivers 100% satisfaction

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100% fescue from Johnsons delivers 100% satisfaction: Doing a fantastic job at retaining the natural links characteristics, Perranporth Golf Club Course Manager Rob Cook has been delighted with his switch to Johnsons J Fescue mix.

Having used Johnsons Sports Seed at his previous club, Rob swapped with confidence two years ago, sowing the greens with a combination of Chewings and Slender fescues, with another 100% fescue blend, J Premier Fairway, employed across the fairways.

100% fescue from Johnsons delivers 100% satisfaction

100% fescue from Johnsons delivers 100% satisfaction

Picking up where the previous Course Manager had left off, maintaining the fescue species and low inputs was something Rob was keen to continue with when he took over three and a half years ago. “Once I used the stock of seed we had, I got in touch with my local Johnsons rep Ian Barnett who went through the mixtures available. J Fescue was the obvious choice for the greens, and for the fairways I was after a mixture of all the fescues – Hard, Sheeps, Strong, Chewings and Slender Creeping Red Fescue. J Premier Fairway ticked all of the boxes, straight off the shelf. The results have been absolutely fantastic!”

Rob usually overseeds the greens between one and three times a year, the last time was September 2020 – the germination from which is still visible. “J Fescue delivers high shoot density and strong colour which lasts. Ordinarily, I would be planning to overseed again in April but with the greens in such good condition and the upcoming return of golfers we believe we’ll be able to wait until our next maintenance week in September.”

“On the fairways we have a ‘members volunteer divot party’ who divot all 18 fairways with the J Premier Fairway mix over a two-week period – and through lockdown it’s been even more frequent.” The combination of more frequent seeding and the higher quality cultivars included in J Premier Fairway has meant that the artificial fairway mats that members were required to use over the winter period are a thing of the past! “We’ve made fantastic strides forward in terms of year-round plant health and strength.”

“With divot work ongoing and a bumper season of play expected, I’ve got no doubts at all that the surfaces will be fit and ready to cope with the sustained levels of play” Rob concludes.

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Johnsons Sports Seed announce new cultivars

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Johnsons Sports Seed announce new cultivars: DLF Seeds undeniably set the bar when it comes to seed research and development, giving turf professionals the mixtures they need and trust to achieve first-class results.

As they launch the Johnsons Sports Seeds mixture guide for 2021, the introduction of new cultivars and 11 updated formulations promise further improvements to disease resistance, wear tolerance and visual performance across a number of key mixtures in their golf and sports portfolio.

Johnsons Sports Seed announce new cultivars

Johnsons Sports Seed announce new cultivars

With sustainability an increasingly key consideration for turf managers, many are discovering the benefits associated with DLF’s 4turf® Tetraploid Ryegrass technology. New in the 4turf® stable for 2021 is Tetragame, a cultivar which significantly improves disease resistance and sward recovery, as well as demonstrating strong germination and establishment even at temperatures as low as 4oc. Tetragame features in the new formulation of J Outfield, together with updated J 4Turf and J 4Turf 100 mixtures to deliver the strength and durability demanded for winter sport and equestrian use.

With a trusted track record for high performance, Johnsons J Premier Wicket and J Premier Pitch mixtures will continue to set the standard for cricket and football respectively – with ProNitro® coated options available for even faster establishment and reduced input costs. DLF’s ProNitro® 5G seed coating contains a targeted combination of controlled release nitrogen, together with hydroactive water management technology, which leads to stronger germination and improved nutrient utilisation during the early stages of plant growth.

Also new for 2021 is Absolom. This highly-rated Slender Creeping Red Fescue cultivar delivers exceptional disease resistance and tolerance for close mown management making it a great addition to a number of Johnsons golf mixtures including J Fescue, J Premier Fairway and J Green. In addition, all mixtures across the Johnsons putting surface range are now ‘DLF Select’ purity as standard, meaning Course Managers can be assured that only seed from the purest crops and meeting the stringent cleanliness grade makes it into the bag.

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“Greenest Football Club” choose Johnsons

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“Greenest Football Club” choose Johnsons: It isn’t just Grounds Manager Nigel Harvey who has moved from the Stanley Park Training Ground to the main Stadium pitch of Forest Green Rovers FC – his Johnsons Sports Seed programme has made the switch too!

Having used Johnsons mixtures for near-on 15 years, the club’s renowned eco and environmentally friendly approach means the combination of J Premier Pitch and J 4Turf will become Nigel’s main weapon in the fight against weed ingress and disease.

“Greenest Football Club” choose Johnsons

“Greenest Football Club” choose Johnsons

Nigel moved from Forest Green’s training facility to take up his new position at The New Lawn Ground in June 2020, which he maintains alongside a recently appointed apprentice. “The maintenance methods are very different between the training ground and the stadium, with fewer conventional tools and techniques at my disposal in the approach we take to issues such as weed and disease control” he explains. After being described by FIFA as ‘the greenest football club in the world’ and becoming the first UN certified carbon-neutral football club, it’s out with chemicals and in with cultural practices – including regular overseeding.

“Johnsons J Premier Pitch has proven itself to deliver fantastic resistance to disease, great appearance and plant strength at our training ground and at many of the country’s other leading sports venues, so achieving that is going to be key moving forwards in maintaining surface quality and health at the stadium.” One of Nigel’s first projects was a major drainage installation programme, the recovery from which saw 20 bags of J Premier Pitch oversown on The New Lawn pitch. “It’s first usage at the stadium and it germinated in 6 or 7 days and we conducted the first cut at just over 2 weeks – it was fantastic.”

“We will then compliment the J Premier Pitch with Johnsons J 4Turf mixture, with tetraploid perennial rye which works well for winter overseeding. This will help to give us some additional strength in high wear areas such as the goal mouths as well as give us a fighting chance to repair any damage or bare patches through the cooler months.” Tetraploid Perennial Ryegrass establishes rapidly under cooler soil temperatures, as low as 4oc. It provides enhanced root development and is proven to deliver exceptional natural genetic disease resistance, reducing the need for costly fungicides by demonstrating exceptional tolerance to a broad range of environmental stresses.

Nigel concludes, “From previous experience, I trust that Johnsons will put us in the best possible position in terms of retaining all-important coverage and plant strength to help resist weed ingress and cope with disease pressure as and when it returns.”

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Advice & support secures switch to Johnsons

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Advice & support secures switch to Johnsons: Backed with advice from two trusted industry contacts Richard Ponsford, Course Manager at Clevedon Golf Club, has been delighted with his switch to Johnsons Sports Seed.

The combination of Johnsons J All Bent on greens and J Rye Fairway has now been in use at the picturesque parkland course for two years, delivering results that means that Richard would never go back to using any other seed.

Advice & support secures switch to Johnsons

Advice & support secures switch to Johnsons

When Richard joined the club in North Somerset just over two years ago, he very quickly built up a rapport with Johnsons Technical Manager Ian Barnett and Joe Hendy, his local distributor for AGS. “In this industry, the support and advice of colleagues goes a long way and knowing AGS is a key distributor of Johnsons, I was keen to explore the range.” With poa/bent dominated swards on sand-based greens, the first switch was to the Johnsons J All Bent mixture.

“We’ve overseeded with J All Bent, which contains Arrowtown and Manor, and it has done a fantastic job at reducing Poa annua invasion, increasing the bent content and thereby improving the playing speed of our greens. This autumn, I consulted again with my technical managers about one historical problematic green which was adversely affected by disease in the summer – the suggestion was rather unconventional, oversowing with J Premier Wicket. We needed something that would take well and become a nurse crop for the Arrowtown and Manor as we head into the cooler months. While we only put this perennial rye mix down at the end of October it has established well, and is growing in to give us coverage and strength for the winter.”

For their divot mix and overseeding on other areas such as tees and collars, Richard is using the hard-wearing J Rye Fairway mixture. “This delivers really quick establishment making it ideal for repairs. Our members carry divot bags with them, and they enjoy seeing the quick response they get from using the Rye Fairway mix on divot marks.”

At the time of writing, the second lockdown in England has seen play suspended for four weeks giving Richard and his team time to complete a bunker renovation project which commenced in October. “We’ve seeded the new bunker surrounds with the J Rye Fairway mix, instead of turfing them, which will be established and presenting well by the time members return for play, and will save us both time and money.”

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Johnsons fungicide savings at Norwich

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Johnsons fungicide savings at Norwich: After switching over to Johnsons Sports Seed four years ago, the grounds team at Norwich City Football Club haven’t looked back.

The combination of Johnsons J Pitch, and J Premier Pitch, have been used at the Carrow Road stadium and across the surfaces at the club’s training ground. While delivering improved disease resistance and great wear tolerance, it’s the speed of establishment that has really impressed Grounds Manager Gary Kemp.

Johnsons fungicide savings at Norwich

Johnsons fungicide savings at Norwich

“One of the main issues we have is the very short turnover period between the end of the season and the start of the next” explains Gary, who heads up a team of nine grounds staff. “With concerts and other events we often have just a few weeks to complete our renovations.” With the advice of his DLF Seeds Regional Technical Manager Craig Spooner and external contractors, this is now possible. “As our window of opportunity reduced, we trialled various seed mixtures and found that Johnsons delivered the quickest and strongest germination and establishment.”

Now solely using the Johnsons J Premier Pitch and J Pitch mixtures, Gary has been very happy with the results across the two facilities. “Year on year it helps us deliver our renovations on time, giving great wear tolerance and great colour which is particularly important for our stadium pitch. This last year has also been one of the best years we’ve had in terms of disease occurrence, despite the peaks and troughs we had with temperatures and rainfall. We think we’ve saved close to £10,000 in fungicide applications this year, and this is only going to become more important, with changes in legislation, moving forward.”

“With Johnsons, you know that there’s a huge amount of research and development going on behind the scenes to develop mixtures that help us out with everyday problems, such as disease resistance, the ever-challenging issues with the weather and shade issues in stadia. The results we’ve achieved with their mixtures are proof that we can withstand those factors and it puts us in the best position to cope with whatever is thrown at us moving forward.”

J Pitch and J Premier Pitch deliver deep rooting, rapid growth – ready to mow in under five weeks. Their hard-wearing nature makes them ideal for football & rugby pitches, training grounds and hybrid surfaces.

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