At this time of year, you should have either just had your pitches renovated, or be in the process of, or planning to start, this season’s pitch rejuvenation.

To ensure you have a good strike rate of your seed, you need to ensure you use the correct seeder; either a disc or dimple.

A disc seeder must be used if you have an existing sward, as the disc seeder will cut into the profile of the soil to around 10-15mm in order to get good soil seed contact, which in turn will help speed up its germination.

It is then best to apply top dressing after seeding to cover the seed away from any pests. This will also aid better establishment.

A dimple seeder is generally used when your pitch is fully stripped off using a Koro, as you take out more top surface. You should seed once 85% of the top dressing is down as you do not want to bury the seed completely. The remaining 15% of top dressing is then added to seal in a similar manner to disc seeding - to protect and speed up establishment of the seed.

Please ensure that you keep the seed damp, but not saturated to help the seedlings swell then finally they will pop into life. This then is a good time to start to apply some Nutrigrow Pre-seeder 6-9-6 to get the plant responding quickly. Alternatively, our Nutrigrow Stress Defender is an organic based slow release fertiliser with added benefits to strengthen the root system.

Foliar feeding or soil drenchers are also a great option if they can be applied monthly if possible, to enable good recovery and healthy root anchoring. We have our Spring and Autumn Gem liquid fertilisers, which can be mixed with Tonivit our bio-stimulant, which aids newly sown seed to give an all-round plant nutrition at the establishment stages.

For more on Agrigem and their range of products, visit https://www.agrigem.co.uk/