In times of cutbacks and decreasing maintenance budgets, field managers must find creative ways of spending the funds available to them. Henrie Bekkers, who is responsible for the sports accommodations in the municipality of ’s Hertogensbosch, is such a creative person who keeps a close eye on market developments.
It was his constant search for good solutions that brought the current Field Manager of the Year to Barenbrug’s innovative Mow Saver. “I was looking for a grass mixture with which I’d be able to seed an area of just over 2.5 hectares around a new sports park so that it would enable me to save costs in its subsequent mowing, and above all also in the disposal of clippings,” says Bekkers. “Mowing and the disposal of the clippings account for the highest costs in the upkeep of grass, so your greatest profits can be made in savings in those fields.”
The soil of the land surrounding the sports park is highly diverse, varying from heavy clay to sand, and it had been used mostly for agriculture, so there were a lot of grass and weeds growing there. What it needed was a mixture that was suitable for various types of soil and that would above all entail less mowing. “We opted for Barenbrug’s Mow Saver concept because of its claim of producing 30 to 40% less biomass. This year my total will be around eleven mowing sessions, whereas eighteen are usually budgeted for such sites.”
Having used the mixture for almost sixteen months, Henrie is very satisfied with the results. He adds that he has the impression that there’s less weed growth than usual, and that the mixture did surprisingly well in the dry period in late summer. “Mow Saver grows less tall and forms a dense sward in which weeds have less chance of establishing.”
“Mowing and the disposal of the clippings account for the highest costs in the upkeep of grass, so your greatest profits can be made in savings in those fields.”
The adjacent baseball and softball pitches have meanwhile also been overseeded with Mow Saver. Bekkers: “These pitches are used only for baseball, softball and school sports. With such a low intensity of use there’s no great need for fast recovery after games, but what we don’t want are clippings lying on the sward. The players’ feet tend to transport clippings to the cinder tracks, or they end up there after mowing. That’s something we really want to avoid because such contamination in those areas is conducive to the undesired growth of annual meadow grass, weeds, etc.,” explains Bekkers.
Thanks to the extensive upkeep, the original grass is now steadily giving way to the Mow Saver. “It’s wonderful to see that the quality of the sward is actually improving – it’s denser, with fewer weeds, and the grass is growing a lot more slowly,” says Bekkers.
Annual meadow grass (Poa Annua) is an annual, sometimes biennial and occasionally even perennial grass that forms short roots.
“Mow Saver grows less tall and forms a dense sward in which weeds have less chance of establishing.”
“I’m also impressed by Mow Saver’s establishment: we seeded a new area with Mow Saver at a different sports park in our municipality four weeks ago and it’s already looking green, even though our temperatures have dropped substantially. And last year we used Mow Saver to seed a dike. You want dikes to turn green quickly, but then you don’t want the grass to grow too fast because such areas of land are fairly expensive to mow.” Bekkers believes that the Mow Saver mixture could be used for many purposes and that this concept will certainly help to meet the aim of sustainable, lower-cost maintenance.
Would you like to know more about the revolutionary new concept that was specially developed for use in public green spaces?
Fewer mowing sessions
Fast establishment
Ideal for robot grass mowers
LMT - Less Mowing Technology
The Royal Barenbrug Group is a family-owned business, the core activities of which are plant breeding, grass seed production and the international marketing of seed for turf and forage grasses and legumes. Barenbrug has been the leading grass seed business in the world for over 100 years.
The Royal Barenbrug Group is a family-owned business, the core activities of which are plant breeding, grass seed production and the international marketing of seed for turf and forage grasses and legumes. Barenbrug has been the leading grass seed business in the world for over...
The Royal Barenbrug Group is a family-owned business, the core activities of which are plant breeding, grass seed production and the international marketing of seed for turf and forage grasses and legumes. Barenbrug has been the leading grass seed business in the world for over 100 years.
