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At Coolabah Turf we are 100% committed to transforming backyards, sporting fields and community spaces across Australia with the absolute best turf available in the world.
How do we do this? By investing in research and development to ensure we always stay well ahead of the game!
This week we were prilvileged to join some of the masterminds of the Australian turf industry on a tour of the Redlands Research Station at Cleveland, just outside Brisbane.
This Queensland Government facility has over 62 hectares of research space which is leased to a number of private and public research companies including the Sports Turf Research Institute (STRI Group) which provides first class consultancy, sports surface design and research services to clients.
Through our affiliation with Lawn Solutions Australia (LSA), we invest heavily in research and development projects across the world, including at STRI, the University of Georgia, BladeRunner Farms and Texas A&M University to ensure we're always ahead of the curve when it comes to new turf discoveries.
The work our international scientific teams are doing is world-class, and through the involvement of our company directors (Brad and Suzie Shearer) as members of the Lawn Solutions Australia Advisory Committee, we got to see some of it up close at STRI on Wednesday.
We were walked through a number of cutting-edge trials including:
- a 'wear and tear' couch trial for Wimbledon (big huh!) whereby a machine simulates the movement of athletes' feet, rubbing up the turf to see what it can sustain (similar to base line tennis action).
- a Zoysia trial (of which our Sir Grange is one of the varieties being put through rigorous testing)
- a drought trial where turf was being tested in conditions of zero water and rainfall to determine which varieties can last the longest without any irrigation and then, which ones recover the quickest when the water is turned back on
- a shade trial (and we're happy to report back that Sir Walter DNA Certified continues to be the Coca Cola of the turf industry because it's still the king of turf in shade. Sir Walter isn't going anywhere folks - it will always be front and centre in the coke fridge! And not only that, but our TifTuf couch has the best shade tolerance of all the couch varieties!)
So what relevance does all this have to you as a homeowner, sporting club or local government, and why should you care about it?
Because if you're in the market for turf, you want to be absolutely certain that the people you are buying from know their product inside out and are at the absolute top of their game.
We believe we grow the best-performing turf grass varieties in each species category that exist in the market today.
But we will never rest on our laurels. We are always on the lookout for turf varieties of the future that might trump the amazing products we already offer. Turfs that need less water and less fertiliser, are more tolerant to drought and shade, have greater resistance to pests, improved growing rates and recovery speeds and a plethora of other aesthetic, environmental and practical factors to help honour our promise to help every customer always have the best-looking lawn in the street!
So rest assured that if and when they are discovered, you'll be the first to know!
To inquire about turf for your next project, or to make an order, visit https://www.coolturf.com.au/product-category/lawn/ or call us on 1800 055 515.
