Looking for lawn tips for Autumn? Check out our Autumn Lawn Care Video Series.
The healthier your grass is going into the cooler months, the better it will come out the other side in spring.
Author: Nathan Edwards
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First Bowling Club in the World to Trial Trinity Zoysia
Brooms Head Bowling Club
Brooms Head Bowling Club is located on the North Coast of NSW between Coffs Harbour and Ballina.
Greenkeeper Blair Littlechild has worked at the club for over 13 years. The club currently has Tifdwarf bowling greens, which have proven to be difficult to manage over the years. Some issues have included ground pearl, turf disease, salinity issues from proximity to the ocean and poor greens construction also a contributing factor to the overall performance of the greens.
Tifdwarf has been the prominent bowling green grass in Australia for over 40 years. Up until recently there have been limited alternatives with superior traits available to greenskeepers. Many bowling clubs operate with very limited budgets, so any investment in construction or refurbishment of greens is critical to get right. Bowls Australia produces Bowling Green Construction Guidelines that provide greenkeepers with a solid resource for ensuring greens facilities are constructed to a particular standard. These guidelines, with the experience and expertise of greenskeepers like Mr Littlechild, have gone a long way to ensuring quality bowling green surfaces in Australia.
Mr Littlechild, the club and their staff were looking for an alternative option that would address the issues they continue to experience. They were looking to introduce a more cost-effective surface that didn’t require the stretching of financial resources for upkeep costs and were prepared to look outside the box for these results.
Enter Trinity Zoysia
Early discussions into exploring turf varietal trials began with communication between Mr Littlechilds and Simon Adermann from Lawn Solutions Australia (LSA). With Sir Grange Zoysia having achieved considerable success in the Australian sporting market, Teven Valley Golf Club nearby in particular, Mr Littlechilds asked Mr Adermann what other new turf varieties may be suited to being used in a bowling greens situation.
Trinity Zoysia is a newly introduced turf species in Australia, exclusively licensed through LSA and ticked a lot of the boxes required for a bowling green and for the Brooms Head climate and proximity to the beach. Trinity Zoysia is a Zoysia Matrella that was originally bred for the golf course industry as a versatile grass that can be mown low, primarily suited for greens and tees.
Mr Littlechild drove to Brisbane and checked out the newly installed Trinity Zoysia putting green at Indooroopilly Golf Club. Impressed with the appearance and performance of the grass, Mr Littlechild
put a trial proposal to the Brooms Head Bowling Committee. The proposal was approved in December 2019 to be trialled on one rink, making it the first trial in the world to use Trinity Zoysia for a bowling green application.
Eradication of Tifdwarf for the trial commenced in January 2020. Fumigation followed in February and Trinity Zoysia stolons supplied by Twin View Turf were planted in March. The Trinity Zoysia showed signs of fine white fibrous roots within 5 days of planting. Shortly after, 200 millimetres of rain fell leaving the greens underwater for over 4 days, but no damage was caused to the trial.
The Fertiliser program started 14 days after planting and progressed throughout winter. In August granular fertiliser was applied to promote growth and the green was top dressed in September. Mr Littlechild worked with Andrew Smith from Nuturf on the fertility program required to get the most out of the Trinity Zoysia.
From there regular mowing, grooming and rolling commenced to prepare the surface for play. Play started on the green in December 2020.
Over the next 12 months the club will monitor winter dormancy, playability, maintenance requirements and member feedback. If everything goes to plan the club will add another 3 rinks to the green in January 2022.
The primary goals they are hoping to achieve in order to determine the trials success include:
- Lower maintenance costs
- Reduced chemical use
- Less weekly maintenance hours
- Increased winter colour
The grass has already received glowing reviews from both the committee and club members, with first and foremost Trinity looking and performing as a bowling green should. Members have commented on the beautiful fine leaf and some have even said it almost looks artificial with how good it looks.
“Australia is leading the way to find a new turfgrass variety for bowling greens – Trinity Zoysia is showing some really positive signs thanks to Brooms Head Bowling Club in New South Wales”. David Doguet, Trinity Zoysia Turf Breeder – Bladerunner Farms
Mr Littlechild would like to thank the volunteer support and the committee for backing the opportunity to trial this new grass and is excited to see how it performs over the coming years.
For more information on Lawn Solutions Australia Sports Turf varieties like Trinity Zoysia, click here.
TIFTUF Travels to Dubai
Dubai Sports City ICC Academy | TIFTUF Trial
In July 2020, Lawn Solutions Australia was approached by Dubai Sports City ICC Academy and Stadium Head Curator Tony Lumsden to see if it was viable to send TifTuf stolons over for a project in Dubai. Having conducted some research on drought tolerant grasses, Mr Lumsden decided to try TifTuf as a trial grass to see if the data would be relevant to Dubai’s extreme heat.
Currently, Mr Lumsden and his team use Princess 77, TifWay 419 and have recently planted Paspalum Pure Dynasty. In summer the Dubai average temperature is 42 degrees Celsius, “soil temperature can climb to over 40 degrees and water temperature pushing 40 degrees also” Mr Lumsden said. With grass under stress, water consumption is high, so Mr Lumsden was looking for a new grass that might help reduce water consumption.
With TifTuf new onto the market and the ‘Smart Approved Water Mark’, Mr Lumsden thought this would be an excellent grass for the Dubai climate. After some communication with Lawn Solutions Australia, Mr Lumsden was put in contact with Victorian turf grower StrathAyr Turf Solutions to arrange for the TifTuf stolons to be delivered.
StrathAyr have extensive experience with growing, harvesting and exporting specialist turf products and services domestically and abroad. StrathAyr made contact with Mr Lumsden to determine their exact needs and requirements, before arranging the stolons to be sent from Australia to Dubai – over 11,500km away.
The Project
The scope of works was to provide 100kg of washed TifTuf turf stolons to enable a trial area of 400m² to be planted. The most challenging aspect of exporting turf is the immense logistics requirements encompassing certificates, inspections, flight changes, clearances…. all the while factoring that the turf is a living product and there needs to be time minimisation between harvest and replanting on the other side of the world.
Preparation and Delivery
Office Manager Alison Hall has been with StrathAyr for many years and her experience enabled careful manoeuvring and persistent coordination of all the processes required for the Dubai project to be successfully accomplished over a six-month period.
The TifTuf stolons were harvested on November 25th, with sanitisation then conducted to ensure the grass was free from disease, insects and nematodes.
The turf material went through the washing plant three times to ensure all of the soil was removed. The turf washing facility in Seymour is environmentally friendly and water is continually recycled in a closed loop system with a dedicated dam that feeds and captures all water utilised in the process. StrathAyr have a proud fifty-year history of being world leaders in the development and provision of natural turf solutions. The process of washing turf was developed and commercialised by StrathAyr many decades ago and their world-wide patent resulted in turf washing equipment being manufactured in Seymour Victoria and exported to specialist turf farms across all corners of the globe.
The washing facility at Seymour in Victoria has a module that precisely shreds the turf to create stolons ready for planting. Once the stolons were bagged, they were rapidly dispatched to the airport where pre-arranged officials were waiting to thoroughly inspect the plant material for any diseases or pests. The stolons were then re-packed in temperature-controlled packaging and loaded onto the plane, which immediately departed via air freight to Dubai International Airport (DXB).
After a lot of communication with the UAE Ministry of Finance and Dubai Customs, Mr Lumsden received the TifTuf stolons on November 30th, after sitting in cold storage for 4 days. The stolons were again tested for nematodes on arrival with a positive result being found. As a result, the stolons needed to have repeated spray applications before final testing to ensure a negative result prior to establishment.
Planting and Establishment
The stolons were spread over the plot for spraying and once given the go-ahead Mr Lumsden and his team were able to press ahead and gave the grass a very light top-dress and fertiliser application.
Hessian covers were placed over the stolons to help with moisture retention while the stolons began to establish. Day time temperatures were sitting around 26-28 degrees Celsius during this time. After approximately 12 days, the hessians were removed to see good signs of leaf growth and some root development. With half the plot covered in shade during the winter months, it was a good sign that the grass was establishing well.
The TifTuf is planted next to Princess 77 in the trial nursery, so that will provide a starting point in regard to water consumption, growth rate, shade tolerance and thatch accumulation. The shaded area of the plot will also be a valuable trial to see how the grass will perform in shade and see if it is a viable option for the cricket stadium, which has a shade issue.
The plan for the grass is to also look at trialling it in the cricket wicket, as the texture (leaf size, small internodes) is very similar to TifWay 419 and quite a bit less course than Princess 77.
“I am very excited about the possibility of this grass in the Middle East, given the possibility of less water consumption and the lack of varieties available here.”
“Given that the International Cricket Council Academy needs to be leaders in the field, we are constantly evaluating what we do and pushing ahead with new innovative products and research. I see TifTuf as a great opportunity for us to do that.” Mr Lumsden said.
Further testing, evaluation and analysis will continue over the next 12-24 months.
For more information on TifTuf Hybrid Bermuda (Couch Grass) or to find a local supplier click here.
The Evolution of the Home Lawn
Where did the idea of a ‘lawn’ come from?
The humble Aussie lawn that we know today has evolved through many years of cultural and environmental factors and changes to our way of life. The effects of globalisation in introduced grass types, lawn maintenance techniques, and the emergence of modern suburbia as we now know it, have all played a part in the history of lawns.
Although lawns have not always been a luxury accessible to all, modern-day technologies and new farming methods have paved the way for the lawns of today. Providing a place where families can congregate, where friends socialise, and where the many lifestyles and sporting activities take place.
Where did the history of lawns start?
The history of lawns as we know them today began with old European Estates. In these estates, lawns mainly consisted of chamomile or thyme, rather than grass. These lawns were popular as they had a relatively low growing height allowing groundsmen to spot danger or visitors before arrival. Some of these lawns were maintained by livestock, however many were hand-cut by workers using a scythe.
As these lawns took a lot of time and effort to maintain, they mainly belonged to the wealthy. These elegant gardens entwined with lawn areas became a symbol of status and continued to become more elaborate over time. It wasn’t until the innovation of lawnmowers and grass cutting mechanisms, that lawns really started to increase in popularity.
The First Lawn Mower
The first lawnmower in history was designed and created by Edwin Beard Budding in 1830. Budding was inspired after seeing a machine in a cloth mill and saw the potential for a similar concept to be used for cutting grass. The mower he designed was built from iron and had a similar design to cylinder mowers that we see today. The machine was quite heavy and took a bit of effort to use but worked well at cutting grass.
When Budding was first testing his invention, he would only test his machine in the darkness of night to avoid suspicion from his neighbours. Budding saw great potential for his invention. He soon teamed up with John Ferrabee to finance a patent as well as the cost of manufacturing. Little did they know their invention would help reshape the history of lawns.
The Modern Residential Lawn
The idea of the modern residential lawn we know today was influenced by Abraham Levitt, a property developer in the United States. Mr Levitt and his sons pioneered mass production and low-cost housing after World War II. Mr Levitt realised that it was through the landscaping of lawns that home depreciation could be offset. Every house in Levitt’s development of over 17,000 homes had a lawn.
As the popularity of lawns began to boom, more turf varieties became available. Developments in lawn maintenance products including fertilisers, and herbicides also helped lawns become easier to maintain.
Grass Types in Australia
With the growing popularity of sporting games such as lawn bowls and golf in America, people wanted to find new and better surfaces to play on. This sparked interest in new grass varieties and organisations began to conduct research into superior options. It’s through this investment in sports turf that new varieties gradually became available for use in domestic lawns too.
Couch grasses have been a popular choice for Aussie backyards due to their high drought and wear tolerance. Kikuyu grass, originally from the highland regions of East Africa and named after the Kikuyu tribe. Kikuyu has remained a popular choice due to drought tolerance, high wear, and their rich colour.
Some varieties of zoysia are native to Australia. Over time, other varieties of zoysia have been introduced from parts of South East Asia. These grasses are a popular choice due to their drought and wear tolerance.
Buffalo grasses have not always been a popular choice in Australia. This was because they would lose colour in winter and had a scratchy and coarse leaf. But in the last 20 years or so, buffalo have risen in popularity since the introduction of soft leaf buffalos like Sir Walter DNA Certified.
With incredible new turf varieties like TifTuf Hybrid Bermuda and Sir Grange Zoysia now available, we look forward to what the future has in store for the Aussie lawn to come.
How do I stop seed heads coming back?
In recent months conditions have been a bit all over the place in many areas. This has led to some unusual reoccurences of seed heads, so let’s take a look at why this might be happening on your lawn and what you can do about it…
What are seed heads?
Most common lawn types in Australia produce a sterile seed head, meaning they can’t be spread by seed, only through sprigs or runners. Although going to seed in most cases isn’t a bad thing for your lawn, it doesn’t look great or feel soft underfoot.
The seed head cycle can vary greatly due to climate and stage of growth but are a natural part of the seasonal cycle. As a rule of thumb, the cycle will last for between 4 and 6 weeks.
Why has my lawn gone to seed?
Normally when a turf variety goes to seed, it’s due to one of the following two main reasons:
- It’s under stress from something, usually a lack of water, nutrient, or a change in weather. If you have seed head, aerate, fertilise and water the lawn deeply if you haven’t done so in the past 6-8 weeks.
- It’s occurring naturally, coinciding with seasonal change – in most varieties occurring just once or twice a year at a specific time of year.
In these situations, if your lawn has been fertilised recently and has sufficient moisture in the soil, the seed heads should stop appearing on their own within 4-6 weeks.
If there has been a dramatic weather change, it will stop seeding once conditions have gone back to normal or once the plant has adjusted.
But some of you may have found that this hasn’t been the case recently. This is likely because of the inconsistent temperatures and weather conditions. You have probably found recently one day you are wearing shorts, the next jeans, the next its raining all day – or all of these in the same day!
Your grass finds this inconsistent weather very stressful and it can’t quite relax and settle into normal growth. This presents itself in seedhead production, a sign of this stress.
So what can you do about it?
- Regular Mowing – Continuing to mow the seed heads away will ensure that less energy is given by the plant to seed head production and more is given to healthy leaf growth.
- Plant Growth Regulator (PGR) Application – Plant Growth Regulators like Primo Maxx limit vertical growth and they can also help to reduce the amount of seedhead that your grass produces. Regular mowing, twice weekly, and the use of PGR at full rates will minimise the seed head from flowering.
- Check Soil Salinity -High salinity can put grass under stress and seedhead can appear. An application of gypsum or calcium may be required to reduce turf stress helping to stop seed head production.
- Stop stressing! – If you have tried everything recommended so far, but these pesky seed heads are still appearing, stop stressing, you have done everything you can to ensure your grass is healthy – it will be just fine.
Sometimes the environment cannot be wrangled and you simply have to ride it out and let it do it’s own thing. These strange seasonal conditions will settle in due course and the seed heads will cease as well.
The Largest Turfgrass R & D Facility in Australia
Behind the Scenes with Joe Rogers
Since 2013 Lawn Solutions Australia (LSA) has operated the largest turfgrass Research and Development facility in Australia. This facility, located in Berry NSW, is in place to ensure Lawn Solutions Australia remains as the benchmark for new and improved turfgrass varieties. It is often unknown what a facility like this looks like, and what it actually does to better the turf industry. I will take you through what is involved and what it has taken to develop this facility that has housed hundreds of different turf varieties.
LSA’s part in turfgrass research and development
Developing or breeding new turfgrass types is a very extensive and expensive process. There was no turfgrass breeding institution in Australia of any magnitude, so LSA took it upon itself to form relationships with leading institutions in other parts of the world. Over the past decade, LSA has formed strong relationships with the University of Georgia who have bred world-renowned couch grasses like TifTuf, TifSport, TifEagle, Tifway 419, and TifGrand. LSA has also formed a relationship with the largest private turf grass breeder in the world ‘Blade Runner Farms,’ who’s focus is predominantly on Zoysia Grass.
By forming these relationships, LSA has direct access to the leading new and improved turf cultivars as they become available. These relationships are of critical importance and are the backbone behind our R&D program here. To begin the evaluation of turfgrasses, the LSA research team head over to visit these institutions to observe their programs and material. From there a brief will be formed to let them know what type of turf grasses we are looking for and the traits they must have. This will generally include the texture, colour, desirable traits including shade, drought and wear tolerance and also the speed of growth. This brief will then give these institutions an accurate idea of what species from the program we are looking to import into Australia. Once a selection of cultivars has been picked by the breeders, the importation and quarantine process begins.
Getting new turf grasses into Australia
The importation process for turf grasses is long, complex, and quite expensive. To get a turf grass into Australia all the importation paperwork must be lodged with the Department of Agriculture. Once approved, a small sample of each cultivar is shipped over and placed in a Government run quarantine facility. It is here that these grasses are potted and go through the rigours of quarantine testing. These tests ensure no foreign pests or diseases are present on the plant material. Once complete, they are placed in a propagation facility. This is to ensure they grow to a suitable size where they can be nurtured back to health. This process takes between 6 and 12 months generally, and at the end of the process, LSA can collect the 8-inch pots of the new varieties.
Propagation
At this stage of the R&D cycle, the process gets even trickier. From the 8-inch pots received out of quarantine, you then have to ensure its survival (sometimes there can be 60 of them!). Then the team can begin to propagate them so there is enough stock to plant an area out and analyse its performance. Once planted out, they can then be monitored and scored for its grow-in speed, turf colour, turf quality, and seed head production for example.
There is US data on these traits, but since our climate differs so greatly, it’s important that local reporting and data is collected across multiple testing locations across Australia. Once grown, these different varieties can be analysed even further and begin to conduct herbicide tolerance trials and harvesting trials. The tricky thing about this process if you can have a grass that looks and grows great, but if it doesn’t tolerate herbicides or doesn’t harvest well, then it is back to square one.
This process helps us to reduce our selection number down to just a handful of the best grasses from each import. This entire process takes many years and leads us to fantastic new turf grass varieties like TifTuf Hybrid Bermuda and Sir Grange Zoysia.
Turfgrass research and development facilities
Further to the above, the day to day happenings at the Lawn Solutions Australia R&D facility is varied. There are a number of dedicated staff maintaining this facility and conducting research on various grasses. This facility is also replicated in other areas of Australia including the Hunter Valley, Victoria, Brisbane, and Cairns to ensure turfgrasses that are released work in all climates.
Turf grasses within the facility are maintained differently as per their requirements. Zoysia’s for example are fertilised less and mown less to couches and buffalos. Some zoysia grasses, due to their slow growth nature are left unmown. Other zoysias that are bred for golf greens are maintained at heights of 4mm and have much higher maintenance requirements. There are also hot houses dedicated to the advanced propagation of material when required. These hot houses contain originals of every cultivar we have had under trial, so there is always plant material to refer back to if and when issues arise with purity.
The R&D Facility is also used to conduct fertiliser trials on different varieties of turf. This is to see what product at what rate will provide the best results to that particular cultivar, so the nutrient requirements for the particular variety of grass can be understood.
LSA and the Sports Turf Research Institute
LSA also work closely with the Sports Turf Research Institute (STRI) who are a world-leading turfgrass research company whose Australian HQ is located in South East Queensland. STRI enter into extensive trial work on LSA products, often taking 2-3 years to complete. For example, they are currently working on a TifTuf Hybrid Bermuda vs Kikuyu trial to see how they each compare to each other under drought, shade and wear stress. They have previously completed a 2-year trial on all available couch grasses, measuring shade and drought tolerance and recovery from wear and tear.
The data that can be extracted from these trials ensure Lawn Solutions Australia members are on the cutting edge when it comes to turfgrass technologies. The relationships LSA has with world class turf breeders provides first access to the latest and greatest turfgrass varieties on the market. The work conducted with facilities such as STRI ensure the varieties selected will excel in all Australian environments.
Soil’s Aren’t Soils | The Key to Healthy Soil
A healthy lawn is built on healthy soil.
Many homeowners ask the question, “What’s wrong with my grass?” 9 times out of 10 the people you ask for help, whether it be your friend, your local nursery, the guy mowing the house next door, or the hardware store, they will ask you, “how much water do you give your grass” or “do you fertilise enough?”
Even though these are good questions to ask, my question to you is, “What is your soil type and how was it prepared?” Your soil type and preparation will determine if you’re watering too much or not enough. Just as the foundation of a house is important to make sure it won’t fall down, a healthy soil foundation of your lawn and gardens is important to ensure it can flourish. The poorer the foundation, the poorer the performance of your lawns and gardens will be.
Too much water can harm your grass, as will providing not enough water. So, knowing your soil is imperative in ensuring you are able to provide the right amount.
Soil Type
If you live in a coastal area, there is a high chance you will have a sandy soil profile and the water will flow through the sandy profile easily, leading it to dry out quickly. Which means you will have to water your lawn more often. There is a lot of space and air between sand particles, so the soil won’t hold a lot of water and will move quickly through your profile. This soil type has a ‘low water holding capacity.’
If you live out in the suburbs away from the coast, the majority of soil types are what we call a heavier soil (loam, clay loam or clay) which has less space and air between the soil particles. The higher the clay content, the smaller space and air between the soil particles become. This means that more water will stay within the soil, reducing the downward movement of water. These soil types have a ‘high water holding capacity’ which can lead to them being easily overwatered.
Heavier clay soils are very tight, sticky, and bind together making compaction a common problem. Compaction can result from high foot traffic from kids running around kicking a ball, dogs using the same spots to run on turf areas, for example. This compaction reduces water’s ability to move deeper into the soil profile.
Healthy Soil Foundation is key.
Why? Because this is where the roots of your grass grow. The amount of water the roots can access from the soil, will ultimately determine how strong the roots can become. When you have healthy soil, your grass has a higher chance of being healthier too. If your soil dries out too quickly your roots can suffer and die, if you over water, your roots can be drowned. If you can’t get water into the soil due to compaction, your roots will starve of hydration. These issues below ground are what causes an unhealthy and weak lawn aboveground. Just as what happens below your house can be seen above ground, in things like cracking and moving walls.
So, what is your soil type? How was your soil prepared? Was new soil added and blended with existing soil and how much depth of new soil do you have? Does your grass need better drainage? The answers to these questions will determine root health and the long-term health of your grass.
Check out our blog here for some more tips on the right soil foundation or for top dressing your lawn.
Where did the name Sir Walter come from?
Sir Walter DNA Certified Buffalo lawns have played an important role in over 750,000 Aussie backyards. The household name has stood the test of time, continuing to be one of the best choices for Australian homes. Sir Walter has thrived in the Australian climate with its drought tolerance, low maintenance, soft touch, and high wear.
But where did Sir Walter come from?
Brent Redman is a second-generation turf farmer from the Hunter Valley, NSW, and is the owner of Buchanan Turf Supplies. Mr Redman began turf cutting in the late 70’s. By the mid-80’s he had purchased 20 acres in the rich river flats of Maitland.
Mr Redman mainly grew kikuyu and couch, with only a small portion of the farm dedicated to growing buffalo varieties. At the time buffalo was just buffalo and Mr Redman ended up growing 5 different varieties within a 2-acre plot.
Although most of these buffalo grasses struggled with limited knowledge on how to care for them, some survived.
Trialing of the new turf variety
Mr Redman was often in contact with other turf suppliers and had heard some of their struggles with their buffalo varieties. Mr Redman realised he was not facing these troubles with one of the buffalo varieties he had growing on his farm and offered some samples to trial for their farms.
Upon these samples growing, one of Mr Redman’s contacts Charlie Courtney coined the phrase ‘soft leaf buffalo’. Other buffalo grasses were found to be coarse, scratchy, and crunchy, a soft leaf blade was a welcomed discovery.
This new variety of grass started to gain popularity with its soft texture leading to more trials on more farms. On one of these farms, John Tebitt’s Peninsular Turf, they planted a trial underneath a Morton Bay Fig. During this time a TV crew was filming on the farm. Mr Tebbit showed the presenter and crew Mr Redman’s turf sample for them to look at. They suggested the name ‘Shademaster’ as the grass grew extremely well in the shade of the fig tree.
As Shademaster continued to grow on Mr Redman’s farm, a small area was found to be growing which had maintained a greener winter colour, a healthier root system and it was taking over the existing Shademaster.
Mr Redman noticed the potential of this new variety and began propagating the grass to protect the purity and integrity of the variety. After the propagated grass matured, the grass was shown to some of Mr Redman’s turf associates who saw a big potential in the new grass which would soon become known as Sir Walter.
Where did the Sir Walter name come from?
Sir Walter was named to reflect the qualities that the grass possesses. Initially the acronym ‘WALT’ was created, standing for ‘Winter Active, Low Thatch’. It was also decided to add a reference to the significant environmental benefits of the grass, with the addition of the ER for ‘Environmentally Responsible’.
A grass this good needed to be anointed, with a symbolic ‘knighting’ and the Sir prefix added to honour the exceptional qualities of the grass.
S I R
- W inter
- A ctive
- L ow
- T hatch
- E nvironmentally
- R esponsible
The rest is history as they say, with Sir Walter being expanded and produced right across Australia. Sir Walter today is an ‘Iconically Aussie’ brand and is undoubtedly the most successful commercial turf variety in Australian history. As a result of this success deception and substitution by competitors has occurred. Many varieties over the years have claimed to be ‘just like’, ‘same as’ or ‘bred from’.
How do I know the Sir Walter I am buying is genuine?
With the need to protect the Sir Walter brand and to provide an assurance to consumers that the Sir Walter they were purchasing was genuine, Lawn Solutions Australia (LSA) was formed. LSA is a national group of Australia’s best turf producers, who are the only producers of what is now known as Sir Walter DNA Certified. This extension of the Sir Walter name was developed to provide the assurance to consumers that the Sir Walter they are buying is DNA tested. This turf matches the original breeder Sir Walter plant material bred at Mr Redman’s farm developed over 20 years ago. Only LSA turf producers can provide this ‘Original Breeder’ guarantee.
If you want genuine Sir Walter, validated by DNA testing, look for Sir Walter DNA Certified from accredited suppliers with the Original Breeder Guarantee from Mr Redman.
To find contact details for your local Sir Walter DNA Certified Buffalo grass supplier, click here.
Installing a pool with Charlie Albone
What to consider when installing a pool
Australia builds more domestic swimming pools (per capita) than any other country in the world! In early 2019 research revealed 2.7 Million Australians owned a swimming pool – that’s over 10% of the population and the trend of installing a pool has only been on the increase since then.
I’ll admit I’m one of those people and I don’t think I could have survived the Covid lockdown and summer holidays without it, with it being great fun for the kids and a place to cool down and relax too. Swimming pools can be a very expensive exercise to install so you want to make sure you have covered all options and are comfortable before the digging begins.
Where should I install my pool?
Selecting the right spot is imperative and there is no one answer that fits all as every block is individual, it’s a good idea to speak to a landscape designer and a pool installer to work out the best spot for the pool. Obviously, you don’t want a pool directly under a tree that will drop lots of debris into the pool. You should also consider the amount of sun it gets, where the plumbing has to be located, how the pool fence will impact the design, does the proposed area integrates the pool nicely with the existing landscape or will that be an additional item that also needs to be budgeted for.
The style of the pool needs to fit into the style of the garden or house too, so it doesn’t stand out and look like an afterthought. You should also consider the scale and proportion of the pool in the garden and the available lawn area. Too small and it will look out of place and too big and the rest of the garden becomes useless.
Cost of installing a pool
The cost of installing a pool is another massive consideration and the unknown cost of excavation and what is beneath the ground is something that can be scary for a lot of people as it can be a guess until you start digging. Using a local pool builder who has dug pools in the area should be able to guide you on a reasonable estimation.
If you are looking to lower the cost when installing a pool, fiberglass shells over poured concrete ones are a way to lessen the outlay however they can be restrictive in their size and shapes which can have an impact on the overall design of a space. Personally, for me, I prefer the look and feel underfoot of a tiled or rendered finished pool but saying that in the middle of summer both feel great to be in.
Choosing the finish colour inside the pool
The colour of the finish inside the pool, irrelevant of what it’s made from will transform the colour of the water in the pool. Black tiles will give a reflective quality to the water whereas white will give that pure aqua colour, like you’re on holiday in Fiji. The lagoon feel can be achieved by a beige coloured finish that surprisingly can be very inviting!
The colour of the water has an impact on the design of the whole space and the surrounding hardstand including the coping (the tile that surrounds a pool) should tie in effortlessly. The most modern and trendsetting pools are using the same tile that surrounds the pool in the swimming pool – this gives the appearance that the pool is scooped out of the earth as the format is so large. If this is something you would like to try, I suggest a hardwearing ceramic tile as natural stones can have a bad effect on the filters and pumps.
Choosing a filter type
The system of filters and pumps you use depends on what you want from your water. Saltwater chlorinators are most common however I am seeing a real push towards Magnesium filtration for the added health benefits including relieving aches and pains and less of the kids complaining about sore red eyes. Natural filtration is also becoming more common, you need a bit of space to do this and it works by pumping the water through biofilters and reed beds to give you spring-like clear water – perfect for those with any skin allergies or sensitive plants surrounding the pool.
What should I plant around my pool?
Plants obviously work perfectly with swimming pools as they help them to nestle into the landscape but selecting the right plant for the right spot has a few more limitations around the pool. These plants need to be able to take the water being splashed on them and around their roots, including any chemicals in the water. You want to use hardy plants like Indian Hawthorn, Looking glass plant, Pride of Madeira, and other plants you might see growing close to the coastline as they are used to harsh conditions like salt.
My absolute favourite look for a pool is the European style of the lawn right up to the edge of the water with just the coping stone between lush green grass and the cooling water. To me it just says summertime and takes me back to laying in the sun, playing on the grass and being able to jump straight in the water. Of course, this was at a friend’s house in the UK, so the water was near freezing – but I do like the look!
Maintaining grass around a pool
Keeping a lawn healthy around a pool is about selecting the right lawn variety for the application – it’s like picking the right plant for the right spot. If you want something hardy that can tolerate the water type, and sun as well as being hardy to foot traffic – I highly suggest TifTuf Hybrid Bermuda for this. If you are looking for something that can tolerate high levels of salt and also shade, requires less mowing and will beautifully compliment the landscape and pool, Sir Grange Zoysia is another terrific option.
The maintenance of grass around a pool can be tricky – if you don’t have a full-time gardener who can crawl around the edges cutting them with nail scissors to prevent the debris from flying in the pool (if you do please let me know how you made that happen) I suggest a grassed area off to the side of the pool with enough room of paving or decking in between to minimise loose clipping entering the pool. It’s also a good idea to water your grass well if you have lots of splashing to dilute any chemicals or salts in the water and fertilise regularly to create strong hardy turfgrass.