THE NEED
When Paul Murray made the move to Dens Park he knew he had a big job on his hands due to the renovation required to take Dundee Football Club into the 2024/2025 season. Allgrass Scotland worked with Paul on a full overhaul of the drainage system.
As with most renovations, time was precious and the weather wasn’t helping, so there was a delay to the original sowing date.
THE SEED
Barenbrug’s Elite Sport was the seed mixture of choice and was sown on 17th June. Elite Sport has been re-formulated for 2024 to include the top three varieties in BSPB Table S1 Turfgrass Seed 2024, now including the new Altivo for the first time. It only took 5 days for the first signs of new grass to become visible and this quickly accelerated. The consistency across the pitch was exceptional, which meant little or no patching was required.
THE FEED
The initial nutrition came from ICL CRF Mini 19.19.5, which offers a 2-3 month release. Ideal for a low CEC environment to help establishment.
From here it was a matter of making sure the pitch established quickly into a sward. Kick-On Plus, a seedling accelerator, was applied twice, 10 days apart, at 5L per spray. This has a blend of all the essential elements to help a seedling establish successfully; N, P2O5, K, SO3, MgO, Mn, Zn + Trace Elements and Amino Acids.
This was followed by an application of ICL Organo-mineral, Gronamic 16.3.6 at 35g per sqm. This was a new product to Paul and one that groGreen have used extensively with other clients, during grow-ins and as part of a standard nutrition plan, with great success. The results were exactly what Paul required and, alongside rolling and regular cutting, the sward quickly filled out.
Paul had used Consolidate Turf products in his previous role and this was to become a key part of the nutritional program at Dens. Consolidate Links was used as a liquid feed when the grass was at an early stage to avoid Fe application. This was then changed to Consolidate Plus as the aesthetics became more important. Consolidate has an inhibited nitrogen source, therefore it doesn’t convert to nitrate allowing more of the applied fertiliser to be utilised by the plant.
This was applied in a tank mix with the market leading seaweed extract Super Concentrate from Sea Nymph. This seaweed extract is immediately available to the plant, which helps to de-stress and increase root mass which is vital in a winter sports pitch establishment.
Paul noticed how quickly these liquids reacted and within 48 hours the pitch had often transformed in colour and plant health.
When extra colour was required, Paul chose to add Consolidate Winter to the mix, which he did before the first TV game of the season against Hearts on 10th August.
As far as an establishment goes, in a short window, this has been a great success.
