iTurf success for Bolton Wanderers

Chris Simm, Head Groundsman for Bolton Wanderers FC, believes the pitch at Macron Stadium has benefited greatly from embarking on an ICL iTurf programme specifically tailored to its requirements.

Chris has been at Bolton Wanderers for the last twenty years where he has spent most of the time overseeing the management of the training ground in Euxton.

“With a heavily shaded stadium all the way round with no air movement, everything is about fertilizer and if you don’t get that right or the correct programme then you have no chance at all,” says Chris.

“I actually attended an open day at the STRI and Henry Bechelet (Technical Sales Manager) and Simon Taylor (Product & Business Development Manager for Grass Seeds) from ICL were there. Seeing the trials gave me confidence in the products and so I arranged for Phil Collinson (ICL Technical Area Sales Manager) to come in and see us.

“Firstly we did some soil samples, addressed any deficiencies with products like STEP Hi-Mag because we were low on magnesium.

“During the renovation programme we were also low on pH, so we applied some lime to bring that back up. Following that, we sat down together to devise an ICL iTurf programme.

“In this case, because the pitch is so free-draining, products tend to leach faster, than say on a soil based pitch, so by using the technologies within the Sierrablen Plus and ProTurf ranges which have the coated nitrogen – it ensures that we never drop off a cliff and we avoid the peaks and troughs.

“But we also had to consider that on a really hungry site such as this (ryegrass in a sandy root zone) we still needed to have conventional products in there - especially during that establishment phase where we are on such a tight window of eight weeks.”