“You never know who’s going to turn up on the stand,” says Binder’s Sales Manager Roger Beard. And after last year’s show, Roger has tonnes of praise for the annual open space extravaganza - after one visitor ordered 400 tonnes of topdressing as a result of an enquiry made at the event.
Clive Liddiard, Head Groundsman at Hampton School, regularly visits IOG SALTEX (this year, September 7-9) for a variety of reasons – perhaps to keep up to-date with new products, or to network and meet old friends and make new acquaintances or, as was the case last year, to source a certain product to solve a specific problem.
“I wanted a ‘special’ mix of topdressing – 50 per cent soil, 25 per cent sand and 25 per cent green compost – to suit my needs/the ground conditions here at Hampton and to obviously improve my top layer of soil which is classic sandy silt,” says Clive. “I knew what I wanted, but didn’t know if anyone at the show would be able to provide it. But I called in on Binder Loams and the company couldn’t have been more helpful – it really went that extra mile and, as a result, came up trumps.”
Explaining that Binder Loams’ main business is Ongar loam (and that it exhibits under the banner of Monro Sport), Roger Beard says Clive’s request initially “stopped us in our tracks”. However, after a conversation with Joel Williamson, an agronomist at Laverstoke Park (who also visited IOG SALTEX), “we all got our heads together and came up with what is now called The Hampton Mix”.
Founded by ex-Formula 1 motor sport champion Jody Scheckter, Laverstoke Park is a renowned centre for high-quality compost, and the input of Joel Williamson was “indispensable” says Roger. As a result of their combined efforts, 400 tonnes of The Hampton Mix – which, unusually, was screened to 4 mm - was delivered on schedule (Easter 2010) and Clive Liddiard says he is “as pleased as punch”.
“With a heavy annual fixture list (over 1,400 football, rugby and cricket games), bad drainage in the Winter and generally poor soil, the classic topdressing of predominantly sand failed to give me what I wanted. It did help to infill and it slightly improved the drainage, but it didn’t give me exactly what I needed – I wanted to get the soil bacteria working; to give the turf it is own source of nitrogen.
“The Hampton Mix is dearer than a conventional top dressing – perhaps 25/30 per cent more expensive - but it is worth every penny!”
Published: 15/05/2010
