Turf production ?’s

[Pilatus]

What is the best type of soil for turf growing?
Do many turf growers rent land for turf production, if so what are the main criteria that they are after as regards field,site and location?

 

[Formatted]

Do many turf growers rent land for turf production, if so what are the main criteria that they are after as regards field,site and location?

Would anyone want to rent to a turf grower? Seems a great way to lose your topsoil.

 

[Pilatus]

Would anyone want to rent to a turf grower? Seems a great way to lose your topsoil.

In most cases yes,but not so much a problem if the field in question may have a crops of houses growing on it within the next 10yrs or so

 

[andybk]

yea we used to do it , needs to be fairly stone free and level , best with fescue / bent grasses grazed by sheep , will grow back naturally on its own after cutting in about 12months from roots , you dont remove much soil despite what you see prob less than cm , as its mostly grass plants , did 100s ac back in the day ,

 

[steveR]

Local turf company has a 25ac block next to us (I still cuss I was not able to compete when it was sold!) And they grow a fresh crop every 2 years or so, with interwoven matting laid on the seedbed after sowing and rolling. They take naff all soil (they say), but I am unconvinced....

Light sandy soil, plenty of stone, so they use a stone burier in teh planting process.

 

[Dry Rot]

I don't want to rain on your parade, but would you need planning permission for that? It's not farming, is it?

 

[Wooly]

Plenty grown on Romney Marsh. ........Flat, stone free and lots of top soil

I think it works out about 80 pallets of turf per acre.............so hardly not taking any top soil !!
I've always wondered if you stripped an inch of top soil / acre and sold it, if it would actually come to considerably more money than renting it to a turf firm for two cuts



.........and no, you don't need planning (at the moment)

 

[Bury the Trash]

very bad agricultural thing to do.

not just the loss of top soil but loss of the best fertility, which is in the top few cm s

just about the worst form of cash cropping a farmer can do.

 

[Wombat]

Would anyone want to rent to a turf grower? Seems a great way to lose your topsoil.

1000's of acres on light land round here, if it needs a shower of sh!t every time it rains then its good turf land.

 

[Lincs Lass]

No end of turf round Scunthorpe, lots of very light blow away land .
Sykes (used to be county turf ) operate some fancy equipment.

 

[teslacoils]

Fields of turf near my friends north east of Lincoln have been turf as long as I've been down here, so over 30 years. Just a sandpit, but doesn't seem to get lower each year.

 

[Rookie]

Over 2000 acres of turf grown by 2 different companies locally. Supplying turf to premier league football clubs, golf courses, Wimbledon and house builders etc.
Land is sandy so relies on a lot of irrigation. Very little soil is removed as usually take 18 months to 2 years for a crop. So a lot of root mass.

 

[Muddyroads]

I worked for quite a large turf company in the late 80’s on the edge of Milton Keynes. The boss used to claim that he’d build an inch of topsoil over 20 years with the amount of grass clippings retuned each year, as well as sewage sludge etc. I didn’t hang around long enough to find out but I doubt if he was right.
Local guys here are very professional and do a good job, all on rented land. As said, they want fairly light free draining land, ideally with the option to irrigate. They use fine nets to bind the turf rather than waiting for thick roots to develop which has made a big difference to the amount of soil removed. 1 pallet would be 50 square metres I think and probably around 150kg, 3kg per roll at a guess, so 80 pallets to the acre would be about 12 tonnes per acre. With an inch of topsoil weighing around 260 tonnes per acre, they’re not removing very much

 

[Jerry]

Two local ones, one of which has their own ground.

That’s been in continuous turf for many years and the hedges are still only 10’ high so it can’t remove much soil.

But I’m still not doing it, been asked many times by one outfit as I have the right soil apparently.

 

[CPF]

I worked for quite a large turf company in the late 80’s on the edge of Milton Keynes. The boss used to claim that he’d build an inch of topsoil over 20 years with the amount of grass clippings retuned each year, as well as sewage sludge etc. I didn’t hang around long enough to find out but I doubt if he was right.
Local guys here are very professional and do a good job, all on rented land. As said, they want fairly light free draining land, ideally with the option to irrigate. They use fine nets to bind the turf rather than waiting for thick roots to develop which has made a big difference to the amount of soil removed. 1 pallet would be 50 square metres I think and probably around 150kg, 3kg per roll at a guess, so 80 pallets to the acre would be about 12 tonnes per acre. With an inch of topsoil weighing around 260 tonnes per acre, they’re not removing very much

Did you work for Green side up?

 

[Muddyroads]

Did you work for Green side up?

No, Tip Top Turf.

 

[essex man]

They don't take much soil.
Prefer sandy without stone land.
They is a claimed reduction in weed seed bank

 

[yellowbelly]

We used to cultivate land for 3 different turf growers round here.

They want light, sandy soil - the golf course customers don't like any clay content, as when it's laid on greens their golfers don't like clay 'poaching' up onto their fancy white shoes when it's wet. (neither do today's modern namby-pamby footballers, for that matter, as a lot goes to re-turf football grounds).

It needs to be 'worked to death' to make a dead level seedbed - when harvesting, they hate having to throw scalped turf off the machine, as it's just like throwing pound notes away.

The seed rates they use would make the eyes of the average grassland farmer on TFF jump out of his head.

As said above, plastic netting laid just after drilling helps to bind sandy soil together and means they can lift sooner after drilling.

 

[Bury the Trash]

what weird inconsistent comments from a forum of farmers with a we must produce food attitude and which has the old much comment made /phrase farm as if you will live forever...


for me well, as a land manager and farmer i would never sell off top soil , it even makes me wince when tractor wheels take some out on the road.


no wonder theres a rewilder movement now with twits like you lot owning land.

 

[essex man]

what weird inconsistent comments from a forum of farmers with a we must produce food attitude and which has the old much comment made /phrase farm as if you will live forever...


for me well, as a land manager and farmer i would never sell off top soil , it even makes me wince when tractor wheels take some out on the road.


no wonder theres a rewilder movement now with twits like you lot owning land.

Less soil leaving than with sugarbeet and potatoes, guess i shouldn't grow them and get the local turf boys in instead.