Winter-Active Grass, ’tis the season!
It’s that time of year again at RMB Hydroseeding and something of an annual tradition. Each year as temperatures drop so does the switch from regular varieties of amenity ryegrass to Winter-Active varieties in all standard hydroseeding mixtures.
Hydroseeding pioneers, RMB Hydroseeding were quick to adopt the use of Winter-Active grass when introduced in to the landscaping market, taking the honour of being the first hydroseeding contractor to do so.
Hydroseeding with Winter-Active grass helps successfully extended the recognised sowing season for amenity grass as well as providing a head start, as early germination leading onto a well established root structure is crucial should inceffliant rainfall occur during the important spring months – conditions some parts of the UK are experience more frequently.
Tolerance to lower soil temperatures
Especially developed for colder climates, these types of dwarf perennial ryegrass offer germination and establishment at soil temperatures as low as 5°c. whilst standard amenity ryegrass require an average of 10°c, testing shows Winter-Active grass consistently give better germination results at low temperatures compared with other ryegrass cultivars.
Winter-Active grasses are true perennial varieties unlike annual ryegrass that are sometimes miss sold as Winter-Active and fail to deliver the same year on year growth.
Cultivar
Although there are various types of Winter-Active cultivars now widely available, Colosseum has over the years become the benchmark. Known for being medium to fine leaved, Colosseum offers great all year-round colour with a high resistance to disease and having a high endophyte level it helps it to resist insect attack.
Breeding history
Originally development by the sports turf industry for use with winter sports grounds, golf tees and fairways, Colosseum was bred from the few surviving plants out of a test cricket pitch. These surviving grasses were crossed and resulted in a cultivar capable of withstanding extreme adverse conditions. The inclusion of American genetics also gives the cultivar excellent summer performance.
For projects that can’t wait
Having a grass seed mixture that delivers growth during cold periods is a great selling point. But this advantage goes well beyond the ability to simply green up a public open space outside the traditional sowing seasons.
Being able to achieve new plant growth on areas that would otherwise remain unfinished and barren until spring is a must for all erosion control projects that require vegetation and deep root development to help prevent soil erosion and sediment loss on sites and combining Winter-Active grass seed with a high performance hydromulch such as EarthGuard does just that.
“I used the Coldstart mix at a new training pitch at Rushgreen training ground – in a very wet year and I was very pleased at the very quick growth and development’’ – Dougie Robertson (Head Groundsman) West Ham United