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Hydroponic Lawns: Is Soil-Free Turf the Future? · Hydroponics Daily

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  Hi there, welcome back to Hydroponics Daily, the podcast where we explore the
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  science, systems and strategies behind soilless growing.
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  I'm your host, Dr. Russell Sharp from Utrema, the inventor of gold leaf,
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  or as it's called in the UK, liquid gold.
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  And today we're tackling an unusual but increasingly interesting and popular subject.
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  Can you grow lawn grass or sports
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  turf hydroponically this might
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  sound stupid and you might the obvious answer might
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  be no when you think of a traditional nft dwc
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  hydroponic system the last thing you would think
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  about is sports turf but it
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  is potentially possible and there
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  are a couple of companies that are looking at it and let's
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  look at first like the definition of the idea of
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  grass without soil so when we say
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  lawn grass we're usually referring to turf grasses like perennial
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  ryegrass and in america kentucky bluegrass
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  bermudagrass and fescues in the uk and they
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  form dense mats in residential lawns golf
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  courses athletics fields football pitches and
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  growing them hydroponically means cultivating them without soil in
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  a medium setup where nutrients are delivered through water so is
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  this possible well technically yes and technically a
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  lot of sports pitches would already be.
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  Classed as hydroponically really they're soilless most of
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  the premium grade sports football pitches soccer
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  pitches in the uk are based on sand and
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  have plastic membranes around them they're called like hybrid systems there's
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  a lot of plastic in there as well so they're pure sand there's no soil it's
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  all artificial medium and it's basically a run-to-waste hydroponic system and
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  a lot of them get fined by the environment agency because of the amount of fertilizer
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  that's leached into the waterways.
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  So technically, yes, it's possible, but could we have a recirculatory system
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  where the nutrients in the water are recycled?
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  And that way it could actually be good for the environment because you wouldn't
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  lose any nutrients and you could save a lot of water.
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  We know hydroponics, when they're recirculatory, save a vast amount of water.
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  And it's been done, hydroponic turf trials have been done with lawn grasses.
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  At the moment it's fairly niche and a lot of
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  it is research-based but practically it's possible i've done
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  it myself in the greenhouses here we did
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  we've got a big customer in sports turf
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  products that we manufacture and we did a
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  hydroponic system to exclude one nutrient
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  from from each system that was so
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  that we could we could visualize the symptoms
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  of deficiency of each nutrient when in
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  the real world so we could actually if you were doing that in soil
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  you couldn't exclude one nutrient as hydroponically we could
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  and you can there's two reasons you
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  might want to commercialize hydroponics in sports
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  turf and lawn turf the first is for rapid
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  growth of what we call sod those rolls of turf you
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  could rapidly grow them in a organic or
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  a clay sand based medium rather than directly in
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  the soil and you could grow them under led lights with
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  a fertigation solution and get them really fast growing
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  and then potentially establish a lot better once
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  they actually get in the ground so that's one particular good reason.
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  For them and then the other is a hydroponic system when actually the
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  whole lawn continues to be
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  hydroponics and this hydroponic system is set up and it
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  recirculates so you could have a golf course or a football pitch
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  that is completely hydroponic and recirculatory and
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  that sounds like a lot of effort and it is a lot of effort but
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  in situations where water is a premium and
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  nutrient pollution is a major issue
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  and you still need event grade turf then
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  this could be a particularly good um solution
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  so there is a company called capillary capillary hydroponics
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  that are looking into this and claim to
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  have got a lot of systems already set up and so
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  sort of capillary grass sorry yeah
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  hydroponics they so check them out it's
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  a closed loop system and yeah potentially
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  it's of use i'm not sure in the uk with the amount of rainfall
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  we have that we you would get it would
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  be value for money but potentially if you've got the money for
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  establishing it and setting up all the systems the
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  tanks required would be massive and the there would
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  be a lot of piping over a massive area especially in golf courses but maybe
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  if you had a particular hole a particular green golf green that was was proving
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  particularly problematic and it could be a good one to look at but it would
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  need a lot of earthwork movement to do that.
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  Led grow lights have been used now in sports turf
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  for a long time and so that side of
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  things wouldn't be an issue they're big arrays that
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  go on to football pitches and golf courses to boost
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  growth when they need it especially in shaded areas a
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  football stadium soccer stadium is very shaded you
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  think about wimbledon that's even more shaded that's such
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  a closed environment that leds
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  were almost essential for getting the grass grows this time of
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  year just before they start
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  playing on it in you know for qualifiers ahead
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  of the the main tournament so led grow
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  lights would be essential and and tennis
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  uh hard-wearing hydroponic tennis grass
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  tennis could it could it could increase the amount
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  of venues that could hold a grass court event
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  around the world and around certain times
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  of the year as well i just think tennis looks better on
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  grass as a spectacle compared to
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  what do they call a hardcore clay system and clays
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  just looks better on grass so if we could have some winter
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  grass tournaments wouldn't that be amazing so that's
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  hydroponics daily for today and also remember silicon is
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  really good in grass we talked about that on yesterday's episode
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  and you could choose your particular silicon you wanted.
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  To use and the reason i've talked about sports turf
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  today is that we've just set up another podcast that'll
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  be running on weekdays and that's called grass
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  me up and that's going to be all about lawn and
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  sports turf science and using that science
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  in practical every day if you've got a lawn if you're
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  into sports turf what i'll do is i'll add the the
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  link into the show description and so
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  yeah check out grass me up um on apple
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  i'll probably actually add the mp3 to the end of this one so that
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  you can have a listen to the introductory episode so stay tuned
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  after that as a bonus as well it's not just sports grass that's been looked
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  at hydroponically recently there's a dairy farmer in holland and he's looking
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  at growing grass hydroponically to feed to cows so the land can be better used
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  for other uses in holland,
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  it's debatable whether you could be efficient enough. I mean,
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  grassland for animals is fairly cheap compared to arable land,
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  and the grass grows fairly well.
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  So it'd be debatable, but he seems to think that it could be potential.
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  And animal feed has been grown hydroponically for a long time.
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  Especially like sprouted barley, sprouted wheat.
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  That's been a particular strong additive
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  in animal feed for a long time in
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  certain countries so it's not beyond the witter
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  man to produce hydroponic animal feed grass so grasslands
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  artificial grasslands so yeah that's been hydroponics daily for today as i say
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  stay tuned and i'll just bump on the introductory episode of grass me up next
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  thank you hello there welcome to grass me up the premier podcast for lawn and sports turf science,
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  agronomy and everything that grows under your feet and keeps our fields,
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  pitches and gardens looking pristine, aka grass.
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  I'm your host, Dr. Russell Sharp from Utrema, and whether you're a turf manager,
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  sports groundskeeper, lawn enthusiast or just someone who's genuinely fascinated by soil microbes,
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  mowers, sprayers, lovely grass, you're in the right place.
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  So this podcast isn't just grass deep, we're going root deep,
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  We're going fungal network deep because behind every lush green pitch or pristine
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  striped lawn is a world of biology, chemistry and physics.
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  And let's face it, a bit of madness.
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  You've got to be mad to be in the lawn and turf game. In this introductory episode,
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  I want to give you a taste of what's coming up and why you may never look at
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  your lawn or football pitch the same way again.
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  I'm hoping to do an episode every weekday.
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  We've got about 200 topics, so I should be able to get through a calendar year, at least with that.
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  That's a lot more often than most podcasts, but I do another podcast called
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  Hydroponics Daily for the hydroponics industry, and that has gone well so far this year.
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  So I thought we've got lots of customers in the lawn care and sports turf industry
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  at Utreema, so I thought I'd continue our efforts with another podcast dedicated to you guys.
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  So we'll tackle topics that range from the practical to the scientific,
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  from the obscure to the essential.
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  Ever wondered why your lawn turns yellow in droughts or whether seaweed extracts actually do anything?
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  Well, we'll break it down for you. Are you curious about what chaffer grubs
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  and letharg jackets are doing to your turf?
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  We'll talk biological control, nematodes and prevention strategies that don't wreck your ecosystem.
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  We'll explore how sports turf professionals in the Premier League construct
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  pritches that survive 40 games and still look flawless.
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  What makes usga green construction so
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  resilient and how to actually deal with moss power annua
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  fairy rings and even slime mold you ever
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  had a slime mold on your lawn it's pretty disgusting luckily
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  it doesn't harm the grass too much okay so we'll also
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  be busting and debunking lawn
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  care myths explaining whether no mo may actually
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  helps biodiversity and asking the
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  big big questions in lawn care like how do
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  we even make lawns how do we even make lawns before
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  mechanical mowers you know how did how did they even
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  do melt lawns before they had mowers is plastic glass
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  really a sustainable solution and what happens when geese badgers rabbits and
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  even moles decide your turf is now theirs so we'll cover topics like wetting
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  agents phosphites micronutrients compost teas and chitosan all those products
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  you've seen for sale on social media and on websites and trade shows,
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  we'll discuss the safety and science of glyphosate,
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  or Roundup, what titanium and cobalt fertilisers really do, and whether blue
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  pigments during droughts are just for show or serve a purpose.
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  Not sure what kind of grass you should be using? Fescue, bromes, poa? We'll compare.
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  I'm wondering if your soil is too acidic or too alkaline while diving into Soil
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  Testing 101, structure, texture, and what organic matter really means in a practical sense.
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  So our goal is simple make turf and lawn science
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  accessible grounded in agronomy and genuinely
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  useful whether you're maintaining a cricket square planning your
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  first lawn renovation or wondering if that dandelion is
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  about to take over your entire life this podcast is not sponsored fluff it's
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  not about what to buy yes i work for a company that makes inputs but we'll keep
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  it as independent as possible if you listen to any other podcasts you'll hear
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  me say that don't use some of our products in certain situations and use other
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  people's products when they're more appropriate.
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  It's about how to think like a turf scientist really, so an academic turf scientist.
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  Whether you're using drones, drag mats or just a spade and a dream, we're here for you.
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  I'll have guests along the way, I'll have co-hosts and
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  I won't be using Skype or any of
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  the sort of interview techniques that involve the internet because I find that
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  the sound quality is terrible and I want the sound to be as good as possible
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  because I know a lot of people listen to podcasts in noisy vehicles like tractors
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  and I don't want to burst your eardrums trying to listen to the audio if it's
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  coming across a something like Skype.
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  So please subscribe, follow or just bookmark this in your brain because Grass
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  Me Up is about to become your go-to source for everything that matters under your feet.
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  So also please share this with any
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  of your other grass heads grass nerds turf
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  turf turf heads that's probably a good one isn't it
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  yeah and i know there are a lot of other turf based
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  podcasts out there so hopefully we'll have a different take
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  on them and certainly we will be publishing a lot more often than most podcasts
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  so i'm a podcast addict so hopefully you are too so you'll be getting at least
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  five a week that's the plan so we're diving into next week we'll probably dive
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  into one of the simplest and most overlooked ways to transform your turf's appearance.
• 12:51
  Greening up with iron and foliar products. What works, what doesn't,
• 12:55
  and why colour isn't just cosmetic.
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  So thanks for tuning in to Grasp Me Up. As I said, I'm Dr.
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  Russell Sharp from Utrema, and I'll see you on the turf. Thank you very much. Goodbye.