Ultimate Shoot density.

When thinking about selecting a grass seed mixture for your park, garden, golf course or even field, it is important to think carefully about your key aims and objectives for the area.

One of our key aims, is to provide a super grass seed mixture which looks great and covers the ground with a high shoot density.

There are many reasons why shoot density is good and important, the first is that a high shoot density covers the ground, looking like a carpet and secondly it keeps those pesky weeds at bay. This in turn will mean your grass will last for years and years.

We look at shoot density and plants per metre squared as a way to measure a sowing (seed rate) and also a healthy sward. The simplest way to do this is to place the pam of your hand flat on the ground with enough force to press the grass plants to lie flat to the ground. Once you lift your hand back up into the air, check out the numbers of plants that now appear flattened. Also please do not be concerned the grass will soon spring back up in no time.

This above practice can be used from the first new shoots on a newly planted crop, and also each spring as the soil temperatures rise and they begin to grow for the new season. In fact this is a very useful tool to adopt at the end of each winter season (off season). It is very common that over a hard winter you may/will lose plants and therefore plant density. 

So, we suggest doing this pam down practise each spring to check on the sward density, this will allow you to decide if the winter kill (plant loss) has been high, medium or low. 

In later blog posts we will go on to talk about overseeding, overseeding grass mixtures and the best protocols to give the best results. 

This time we are looking at shoot density to suppress weeds, although some weeds can act as fodder for pollinators, we all enjoy a nice clean grass sward in our greens, lawns and fields. 

If we can maintain high shoot and plant density our swards and grass crops will yield well and look fabulous, they will also be very consistent from front to back and from left to right. You will spend the warmer months of the year watching them grow and admiring it’s fullness and healthy appearance. 

This works due to the fact that all soil surface is covered with grass plants,  meaning that no other unwanted weed seeds can reach the soil surface and then germinate and take hold. 

As always at Grass Science Seeds, we have very carefully planned our mixtures to suit the needs and of course have a high shoot density, why not take a look at our collections to find out more, also subscribe to the website, this way you will never miss out on the handy tips and hints. Just follow the links… 

Here an example of a poor shoot density:

Also an example of the density test: