Tag Archive for: Seeds

The Seeds of Success

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The Seeds of Success: MM Sports Seed, one of the most respected brands in the UK amenity industry, recently brought together their distributors for their MM distributor conference held at Hotel du Vin Wimbledon, followed by a tour of the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club.

The conference provided the opportunity for distributors to interact with each other for the first time in two years following the COVID pandemic and give an insight in the recent acquisition of the MM and Designer brands by DLF Seeds.

The Seeds of Success

The Seeds of Success

The conference was the ideal opportunity to give distributors an insight into the Inkberrow factory upgrade and demo site at DLF’s UK headquarters, a breeding and portfolio update detailing the exciting new cultivars that are planned for the MM mixtures, the current market supply conditions, and future marketing of the brands as well as enhancing the communications channels within the MM Sports Seed network.

Neil Stubley, head of courts and horticulture at Wimbledon – The All England Lawn Tennis Club concluded day one of the conference with an entertaining update of the prestigious venue.

On day two, delegates were invited for an exclusive tour around the world’s oldest tennis venue to witness first hand the latest stadium developments and turf management practices.

The conference was hosted by Matt Gresty, sales and marketing manager for MM Sports Seed, who said: “Throughout the two days together we were able to discuss, the opportunities and issues that affect our businesses. It provided the perfect platform for an informed debate.

“The past two years have presented unique challenges to our industry. London was the ideal location for the event. A lot of preparation went into the conference to ensure we got the full benefit from our two days together and the feedback from the delegates was excellent; it’s been a very successful event.”

For further information, please contact MM Sports Seed on 01386 791102 or visit the company’s new website www.mm-seeds.co.uk. You can also follow the company on Twitter: @MM_Seed

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DLF Seeds announces facilities investment

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DLF Seeds announces facilities investment: DLF Seeds, the worlds-leading grass seed breeder is to invest £3.5M in new state-of-the-art mixing and distribution facilities at its main seed processing site at Inkberrow in Worcestershire.

This comes on the back of a £3M investment at its Scottish site at Broxburn, near Edinburgh in 2015, which automated and revolutionised the handling of forage grass and clover mixtures into the agricultural market.

DLF Seeds announces facilities investment

DLF Seeds announces facilities investment

“This investment will transform our current production facilities and bring much needed additional capacity and efficiency to cope with the future market demands in the amenity, consumer, environmental stewardship, cover crop and wildflower markets,” says Tim Kerridge, Managing Director for DLF Seeds.

“We have already seen increased demand for our products, especially for environmental stewardship, cover crops and wildflowers, in response to the UK government’s focus on habitat creation and carbon capture. In the amenity and consumer sector we have also experienced sustained growth and continue to see opportunities in these markets, as the economy recovers from Covid and embraces the sustainability agenda.”

The investment encompasses a new fully automated mixing plant for amenity and consumer products, whilst freeing up existing mixing capacity to triple the throughput of environmental stewardship, cover crops and wildflowers.

“This is a very exciting time for our industry where we must invest to ensure our customers can continue to receive the highest levels of service and the quickest delivery times for their orders,” Mr Kerridge continues. “Covid and Brexit have presented many challenges over the past two years, but this investment will ensure we are well placed to serve our customers in the decades to come.”

Work, which has already started, is expected to be completed by spring 2023.

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Scatter seeds for a brighter year ahead

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Scatter seeds for a brighter year ahead: Spring is traditionally seen as a time for renewal, growth, and new life, with warmer days urging us outdoors to enjoy nature. This year we have even more to look forward to, with reunions on the horizon and things returning to a semblance of normality.

With these brighter days and positive thoughts of the year ahead, now is a great time to get outside and scatter some wildflower seeds to ensure that 2021 and beyond is full of life and colour.

Scatter seeds for a brighter year ahead

Scatter seeds for a brighter year ahead

Wildflower specialist, Seedball, has developed a unique way in which to protect scattered seeds until they are ready to look after themselves, creating a mini ecosystem and giving them nutrition as they germinate and grow. The balls are made from a combination of British wildflower seeds, clay to protect from predators such as birds and ants, peat-free compost to provide nutrition, and a little bit of chilli powder to deter slugs and snails. Simply throw the balls onto soil or compost in a garden bed or planter in Spring or Autumn and wait. The seed ball has everything it needs to grow and, once the ball becomes moist and the temperature is right, the seeds will germinate! What could be easier?

While Seedball is famed for its compact tins of seeds that are ideal for gifting, the company also produces larger grab bags, each containing 100 seed balls, make it easy for everyone to create a wildflower patch in their own garden, and what could be a greater symbol of positivity and optimism than that? The range includes bags of curated seed collections, such as the Bee Mix and the Shade Mix, to help people create wildflower havens with ease.

New for 2021 is a collection of Single Flower Grab Bags, each of which contain 50 seed balls of a single variety, allowing even more flexibility for people to design their own outdoor spaces according to individual preferences. The 24 varieties include quintessentially British species such as cowslips, cornflowers, yarrow and camomile.

People will even be able to create their own delicate, blue carpet of bluebells with the Bluebell Grab Bag – provided they are willing to wait for them to flower, which can take up to five years after germination. These native flowers are more than worth the wait, though, and are one of Britain’s most precious and iconic plants. The variety available in the grab bags is the Hyacinthoides non-scripta, with a distinctive scent that is highly attractive to bees.

A simple scattering of seed balls today will result in a brighter, wilder tomorrow!

To find out more about Seedball visit https://seedball.co.uk/

You can also find Seedball on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter

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Goodbye seeds, hello retirement

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Goodbye seeds, hello retirement: DLF have announced that one of the most well-known names in the seed industry, John Hughes, will be leaving at the end of February to embrace his well-earned retirement.

After spending most of his working life at some of the country’s leading seed providers to the golf and sports turf markets, John has made many friends and contacts who will be sure to miss his invaluable support, knowledge and advice.

Goodbye seeds, hello retirement

Goodbye seeds, hello retirement

Having obtained a BSc Hons in Applied Biology from the University of Salford, John worked at the Welsh Plant Breeding Station (Aberystwyth) in the Chemistry department, and in Plant Pathology at the National Institute of Agricultural Botany (NIAB). He also spent some time teaching Biology. This love of knowledge-sharing set John up for a long and illustrious career in the professional amenity market where he enjoyed positions at Germinal Seeds and Cebeco Seeds before this was acquired by DLF in 2002. For the last 18 years, he has been a fundamental part of the sales team for DLF Seeds in his role as Regional Technical Manager for the North. His wealth of knowledge and experience saw John become a key contact for turf managers, helping to formulate seeding programmes for some of the areas biggest sporting venues.

Commenting on his retirement John said, “the last year has been challenging for the obvious reasons which has also meant that, sadly, I have not had the opportunity to say my farewells in the traditional way. I wish to thank all of my customers for their ongoing support and help over the years – many of whom I can say I now consider to be friends. When the situation allows, I look forward to using my retirement to spend more quality time with my friends and family, especially my grandchildren, and I may even find the time to get a few jobs done around the house and pick up my electric guitar which has been gathering dust for a few years!”

We join the team at DLF Seeds in wishing John all the very best for a long and fulfilling retirement.

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DLF Seeds for Exeter Chiefs

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DLF Seeds for Exeter Chiefs: A change in career is a daunting prospect, but it can often be made easier with training and support from new industry peers.

For Max Sandford, a joiner by trade, he is swiftly learning ‘all things turf’ after taking over as Head Groundsman at Exeter Chiefs Rugby Club 18 months ago. One of those trusted contacts is Ian Barnett of DLF Seeds who has supported Max with the Johnsons J Premier Pitch, in use across the club’s stadium and training facilities.

DLF Seeds for Exeter Chiefs

“The world of grass seed was very new to me” Max explains, when he accepted the top job in early 2018. “Ian, our regional DLF Technical Manager, together with my local distributor have spent a lot of time going back to basics, looking at cultivars and mixture qualities which has given me a much better understanding. The support has been invaluable and has certainly given me enough of an insight to see that the Johnsons mixtures are doing a fantastic job!”

A combination of J Premier Pitch and the ProNitro coated version, J Nitro Premier Pitch, have been used across the site for the last seven years. “We carry out a full renovation on both pitches each year after the final game and overseed roughly every six to eight weeks, depending on the time of year and pitch usage.”

“I am very impressed with the germination, the density of coverage and the strong colour we achieve year on year. The wear tolerance is a major factor for rugby, especially in the scrummaging areas, but the J Premier Pitch holds firm which is testament to the strength of the rooting.” On the back of Ian’s advice, Max is looking forward to trying Johnsons J 4Turf mixture for the first time this winter, to deliver deeper rooting and rapid establishment even under low soil temperatures.

Max concludes, “I enjoy reading about what other groundsmen are using and when I see Johnson’s mixtures used at leading facilities around the country, I feel confident that I’m sourcing the best products I can for the club. Ultimately, I’ve found if you ask the right people the right questions, you will get the right answers!”

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