Following a visit to ICL’s Pitch Focus event, Martin South, Grounds Manager at Sedbergh School in Cumbria, decided to embark on his own trials in which he put ICL’s SeaMax soluble seaweed and ProTurf granular fertilizer to the test.


Martin South, Grounds Manager at Sedbergh School

When Martin visited ICL’s Pitch Focus event, he had the opportunity to learn more about the latest research, development and technological innovations in turf agronomy. One seminar within the event focused on ICL’s SeaMax - a premium soluble seaweed designed for enhanced foliar and root nutrient uptake.

When he returned home he was keen to put the product to the test.

With the help of ICL’s Phil Collinson (Technical Area Sales Manager) and Henry Bechelet (UK & Ireland Technical Sales Manager), Martin conducted a 16 week trial with SeaMax in which he compared it to other seaweed products. He sprayed the areas in exactly the same way, applying SeaMax at 1kg per hectare and the other products at their standard rates.

“At the end of the 16 weeks we looked at the rooting and there was one that particularly stood out. The SeaMax trial delivered really good results - it had a better colour than the rest and it showed remarkable stress resistance. So ever since then I’ve been applying it to the main rugby pitches and the main cricket square and outfield.

“The other thing I like about SeaMax is the packaging. I spray three of our seven rugby pitches as well as the main cricket, so prior to SeaMax, the liquid I was ordering was taking up a lot of valuable space in my shed and was heavy to handle. Yes SeaMax worked wonders but it was also the compact package that I liked.”

Following Martin’s SeaMax trials, he decided to conduct another trial to make his own conclusions about ICL’s ProTurf granular fertilizer.

“Off the back of the SeaMax trial we looked at the fertilizers that were being used on the rugby pitches to see if it was possible to make any further improvements. I’d seen a lot about ProTurf and heard about its great colour and the fact that it has Polyhalite in it, so I thought it was worth a trial.

“We picked some average grass to conduct the trial on, and at the end of the 16 weeks we found that ProTurf 20-0-7 provided excellent colour, stronger turf and better coverage in comparison to what we were already using.”

With SeaMax and ProTurf now featuring in Martin’s inventory, they join Primo Maxx plant growth regulator and Sierrablen Plus Active 18-5-18 fertilizer in playing a key part in maintaining the health and growth control on the sports pitches.

“We get more rain than most places and we’re soil based so if you get warm weather combined with the rain then the grass growth does tend to run away quite a bit. Primo Maxx certainly helps us out with this situation. Every 4 - 6 weeks on the cricket outfield we apply somewhere between 0.8 and 1.4 litres per hectare and on the rugby pitches anything from 0.8 to 2 litres. When it’s kicked in I probably get half a trailer load of cuttings - without Primo Maxx, that trailer is full to the brim."

Commenting on Martin’s trials and his use of ICL products, Phil Collinson said: “I think it’s great that we’ve got people like Martin who want to do trials for themselves. We obviously do our own trials and research but to give the product to someone with an unbiased view, who wasn’t particularly looking to change the products he was using, it provides the opportunity for someone to find out for themselves. If SeaMax or ProTurf turned out to be not as good, or on par with the other products then he wouldn’t have switched - so to get that kind of feedback from independent trials is fantastic.”