THE (RE)CREATION OF A GREEN AND HEALTHY TURF

The natural grass of sports fields and golf courses often gets a hard time. On a soccer field, tackles and slidings have a significant impact. Add to that prolonged drought, heat or abundant rainfall, and it's clear that expert maintenance of a turf or field is no luxury. Frank Thomas, co-manager of Firma Thomas, explains how scarifying, tilling and seeding machines make a crucial contribution here.

The company Thomas from Flemish Brabant is a well-known name in Belgium for the supply of garden and park machinery. Customers easily find their way to Merchtem for a wide range of machines to keep sports and golf courses in top quality. Many city councils, garden contractors and those responsible for sports centers and golf courses call on the product range and expertise of Firma Thomas.

Compacted bottom

Both before, during and after the sports season, caregivers of sports fields have their hands more than full keeping the grass in optimal condition. Frank Thomas explains: "With every treading by players or tilling by maintenance machines, grass is pressed harder and harder. This compacts the soil, preventing grass roots from absorbing oxygen and nutrients. Moreover, every sliding on a soccer field, for example, destroys a lot of grass roots, which is an additional drain on healthy grass. Without roots, a blade of grass cannot anchor itself in the ground (anymore)."

Weather elements

Nor should the impact of the four seasons on turf be underestimated. "During past summers - with the summer of 2022 being the provisional low point - we saw how drought and heat can damage turf fields. Other weather elements, such as excessive rainfall and freezing temperatures, or the lack of ventilation and shade in stadiums, are also not exactly conducive to a healthy and green turf," said Frank Thomas. "Unlike fields, where a farmer can bring air into the soil by plowing, grass sometimes remains for years. This does not benefit the quality of a sports field or golf course."

Regeneration

Annual regeneration is an important process to restore a site to its original condition. "This regeneration process often occurs at the end of a competition - in May or June - and consists of several steps: top milling, sanding, aerating, seeding and watering. For golf courses, they try to regenerate and seed the green as much as possible at the beginning of the competition, so that the course does not need to be walked on during the germination of re-seeded grass."

"For aeration, the Verti-Drain has been the best known and most popular device worldwide for many years," says Frank Thomas. "Via vertical aeration through solid or hollow pins, sufficient space is created in the soil again for the application of fertilizers and water. Drainage of a site is also smoother afterwards. Often a groundsman chooses to immediately silt up the site after aeration, which allows grass roots to quickly find additional anchorage and thus will absorb water and oxygen better."

The right grass seed

For a sports field or golf course, of course, you also need the right grass seed. "The overseeding can be carried out with different grass mixtures," indicates Frank Thomas. "It is obvious that for a soccer field a different seed type is used than for a golf course. For soccer, broadleaf grass is preferred: this type of grass does not root deeply, but offers a protective effect for slidings. The cutting height is between 26 and 29 millimeters."

"For the green of a golf course, one chooses the finest possible grass, with the maximum number of blades of grass to allow the golf ball to roll as well as possible. Here, the cutting height is between 1.5 and 3 millimeters."

Top machines

For all steps in the regeneration process, Firma Thomas offers machines that are indispensable for the professional. Frank Thomas: "In both Belgium and Luxembourg, we have been the exclusive distributor of the Redexim brand for many years. They develop and produce machines for the maintenance of sports grounds, golf courses, parks and horse race tracks. We offer our customers - from club owners to municipalities - solutions for aerating, seeding, scarifying, sanding and mowing grass fields. By the way, Redexim is the inventor of the Verti-Drain."

"In addition, sports clubs can also come to us for a wide range of Vredo brand overseeding machines. Fertilizer spreaders and sprayers are also in our range."