Combined biostimulants

Consistent treatment effects from H2Pro TriSmart applications on % VMC in the rootzone were seen from late May onwards (Figure 1). The greatest moisture benefits of the H2Pro TriSmart programme were seen in June and August with increases of 7 and 8 VMC % points.

These improvements resulted in significantly greater Turf Quality Scores for the H2Pro TriSmart-treatments (Figure 2) throughout the Summer months with increases consistently between scores of 1 and 2.

Tank-mixing Vitalnova SMX with H2Pro TriSmart did not affect the % VMC compared to H2Pro TriSmart only applications but there were benefits in Visual Turf Quality Score.

Plots treated with the H2Pro TriSmart + Vitalnova SMX tank-mix had significantly greater Turf Quality Scores vs. untreated plots both earlier and later in the season compared to plots treated with H2Pro TriSmart only as highlighted by the areas in blue in Figure 2. From May 30th until August 17th, H2Pro TriSmart drove the benefits in Turf Quality Score.

PLFA microbial analysis of rootzone cores taken at the end of the trial revealed significant increases in total, fungal and bacterial biomass in plots treated with H2Pro TriSmart compared to untreated (Table 1). The addition of Vitalnova SMX saw further increases in total and fungal biomass as well as increased microbial (PLFA) diversity (Table 1).

Summary:

• The H2Pro TriSmart programme significantly increased % VMC at depths of 0-3.8cm and 0–7.6cm as well as Turf Quality Score and NDVI
• Tank-mixing Vitalnova SMX with H2Pro TriSmart did not affect VMC but did significantly enhance Turf Quality Score over the untreated plots both earlier and later in the season compared to H2Pro TriSmart only
• H2Pro TriSmart applications significantly increased bacterial, fungal and total microbial biomass in the rootzone compared to the untreated plots
• Vitalnova SMX applications increased fungal, total microbial biomass and microbial species diversity compared to H2Pro TriSmart only