1. Selecting Grass Seed for your Cricket Square David Hodgson Practicing Groundsman Kirkstall Educational Cricket Club Local agent for Hurrells Specialist Seeds Member IOG, YCBGA vice chair

2. Dedicated to quality

3. What are the options? Bents and Fescues Bents, Fescues and Dwarf Perennial Rye Grass Dwarf Perennial Ryegrass

4. Bents and Fescue Advantages Lower fertiliser requirement Tolerant to drought - to some extent Fine leaf Dense sward Relatively low maintenance Tolerant to close mowing

5. Bents and Fescues Disadvantages Needs high germination temperatures Slow to establish Not so wear tolerant Can be expensive Poor recovery Prone to disease

6. Dwarf Perennial Ryegrass Advantages Lowgermination temperature Rapid establishment Excellent wear tolerance Strong dense root system Responds well to fertiliser application

7. Dwarf Perennial Ryegrass Disadvantages Higher maintenance Greater fertiliser requirement Sparser ground cover Not such a fine leaf Can be susceptible to red thread

8. Selection your Ryegrass cultivars Maybe site specific Level of Cricket played May depend on type of loam Susceptibility of red thread in area

9. British Society of Plant Breeders STRI Every year BSPB/STRI produce a booklet Turfgrass Seed 2001

11. BSPB/STRI List Shoot density Fineness of leaf Slow regrowth Visual merit Mean Resistance to red thread Cleanness of cut Winter greenness Summer greenness

12. Interpretation of scores Slow regrowth The list gives a high score for “Slow regrowth”. Which is good from a mowing point of view however on a Cricket square you would want the opposite “Fast regrowth” to help in the recovery of your pitch after use

13. Choose a mix of cultivars One growing season is different from the next. So one cultivar may perform better one season to another A mix of at least two would be wise Most seed houses would include three

14. Hurrells Mix for 2011 30% Cachmire 30% Margarita 40% Flamenco This mix will establish quickly be hard wearing have a fine leaf, tolerate close mowing with good regrowth qualities

15. David Hodgson’s mix for 2011 40% Cachmire 30% Carnac 30% Sauvignon As you can see I have chosen a different mix based on my experience

16. Kirkstall Cricket Club Work Sprayed off pitch with Glyphosate 1st September

17. 18 Days after sowing Scarified and seeded 25th September By 13th October we had this 100% Cachmire

18. In just 18 days last autumn

19. Thank you for your attention David Hodgson and Hurrells Specialist Seeds