Pitch & Course puts living soil biology under racecourses, golf courses, football and rugby pitches and cricket grounds. One application a year builds the soil your turf is rooted in: the structure opens, the roots go deeper, and rain goes in instead of sitting on top.
20 bags of 25 kg, spread once a year at 500 kg per hectare with a standard spreader. Delivery quoted at order.
Hard worked ground loses the biology that builds its structure. Rolling, hooves and studs press the soil together, and nothing underneath is opening it back up.
Rain ponds on the surface, the going turns soft or heavy, fixtures are lost and pitches close. Drains can only take water that reaches them.
Shallow rooting means divots that do not knit, wear that does not recover, and turf that browns off in the first dry fortnight of summer.
Aeration, sand and drainage give mechanical relief. They do not put back the living biology that builds and holds an open structure.
Bacteriosol is a biological soil inoculant. It is not a fertiliser and it is not a biostimulant.
It is a living community of more than 28,000 different DNA strains of micro-organisms, the composting bacteria and fungi found in healthy soil, carried in a granule you spread. Once in the ground it establishes and builds year on year. It is made by SOBAC in France, has been in use for more than thirty years, and has been going under French sports pitches since 2007.
Sand, synthetic phosphate and potash, and a good part of the nitrogen are bought to do what a living soil does on its own. Water comes down with them.
Press With Pitch & Course to see what changes. Press a line to read why.
Half the sand on established turf. Sand is bought to open a tight surface and dilute thatch. The biology turns thatch into humus and builds the crumb structure that sand was standing in for, so the dressing halves. Keep what you use for levelling.
No synthetic phosphate or potash. Most turf soils hold years of both, locked up where roots cannot use it. The biology unlocks it around the roots, so the synthetic bag comes off. That is the SOBAC plan, and it is the plan that runs on more than 300,000 hectares.
40 per cent less bought nitrogen. Organisms at the surface take nitrogen from the air and the humus releases what it holds, so the sward is fed from the soil instead of the bag.
Less water to keep it green, and here is what was measured. On a split trial, 100 mm of water went into treated ground in 235 seconds against about 27 minutes untreated, so rain and irrigation reach the roots instead of running off. Roots went from 35 cm to 95 cm on heavy clay, so the sward draws on water it could not reach before. Humus holds water where the roots are.
The sand, phosphate and potash and nitrogen figures are the SOBAC plan for established turf, the plan that runs on more than 300,000 hectares. The water figures were measured in soil pits on Warwickshire clay and in a split trial in Brittany. The record sheet that comes with every order adds your ground to that record.
A living soil needs less put on it. That is better for the water that leaves the ground, for the players and horses on the surface, and for the wildlife at the edges.
What you do not spread cannot wash off. Less bought nitrogen, no synthetic phosphate or potash and half the sand hauled in means less leaving the ground in drainage water and fewer lorries on the drive. The humus it builds is carbon held in the soil.
Bacteriosol is naturally occurring soil biology on a plant and mineral base, non-toxic and non-pathogenic. The surface can be used as soon as the granules have gone in, and the players, horses and grounds staff are on ground that gets fewer synthetic inputs each season.
A soil that is alive underneath feeds everything above it, the insects and the birds that work a pitch or a course at first light. Less synthetic input reaches the margins, the hedges and the water's edge.
Put in the size of your ground and what you spend on inputs today. The calculator shows what the plan leaves on the bill by season three, and the pallets you would order. Your figures, our plan.
All figures a year, excluding VAT. Delivery is quoted at order and not included. What stays on the bill is the plan on your own figures: half the sand, no synthetic phosphate or potash, 40 per cent less nitrogen. Water comes down too and is left as it is here, so the saving on the page is the floor, not the ceiling.
Thirty years in use, more than 300,000 hectares, French pitches since 2007, Irish racecourses since 2019, and soil pits on British clay. The measured results are treated against untreated on the same ground.
Groundsmen at Onet le Château, La Mothe Achard and Mormant report watering cut since the biology went in.
Untreated ground rooted to 35 cm. Ground treated for three years rooted to 95 cm, on the same heavy clay.
On the untreated half of the same split trial it took about 27 minutes. Entry speed is what decides whether rain soaks or runs.
Two Irish racecourses have had Bacteriosol under the racing surface and the parade ring since 2019, and both have extended the area every year. Their managers have put on the record what they saw: deeper roots, a sod that recovers faster after racing, and ground that drains.
Started on the parade ring and a small piece of track that was proving difficult for sod depth and water retention, monitored with the course's track advisor, and extended every year since. By 2023 it covered about a quarter of the racing surface.
We have found that the roots system has increased year on year and has led to improved sod strength, quality and density. The biggest return we have made for our investment is seeing the sod under foot recovering quicker than before after each race meeting, and ultimately leading to a safer racing surface.
The walk in to the parade ring lay wet and soggy after any overnight rain and had to be cordoned off on race days. Three years after the first application it was filmed the morning after a stormy night with 10 to 15 mm of rain, and the manager said it was “making our job so much easier to bring areas literally back to life”.
After a very, very wet night we have practically dry soil, meaning that the drainage in the area is just fantastic.
Their words, on the record, from two courses that started small and now treat more ground every year. Every order comes with the record sheet, so your ground joins the record.
Once a year, in a window with no synthetic inputs, with the spreader you already have.
Early autumn while the soil is still warm, or the spring renovation. Nothing synthetic goes on for two weeks before.
The granules must reach the soil. Mow short first, and if you are aerating anyway, spread straight after.
A standard spreader, calibrated for a granule. Best with light rain forecast in the next day or two.
No synthetic fertiliser, lime or sprays for two weeks after. Record the date and the area. Repeat next year.
| Ground | Area | Pallets | A year, plus VAT |
|---|---|---|---|
| One full size football pitch | 0.71 ha | 1 | £1,000 |
| One rugby pitch with in-goals | 1 ha | 1 | £1,000 |
| A cricket outfield | 2 ha | 2 | £2,000 |
| A flat course, home straight to winning post | 8 ha | 8 | £8,000 |
| A large dual purpose racecourse, all racing surface | 20 ha | 20 | £20,000 |
Areas are illustrations. Send us your track or pitch plan and we will work it out to the bag.
Consistent going, faster recovery, less watering to hold the ground.
Fewer postponements, goalmouths that recover, one pass at the renovation.
A pitch that takes the wet months, and a middle that roots back.
An outfield that drains, for the days that are lost to it.
Fairways that take the winter, and tees and walk-offs that root back.
Pitch & Course supplies living soil biology to racecourses, golf courses and sports grounds across Britain, and nothing else. The biology is Bacteriosol, made by SOBAC in France since 1992, in use on more than 300,000 hectares and under French sports pitches since 2007.
Fairyhouse and Naas racecourses have had it under the track and the parade ring since 2019, and their managers' words are on this page. Every order comes with the record sheet: treat, keep a matched strip untreated, and read the difference in the cores by spring.
You will deal with a person, not a portal. Ring 01293 613600 and ask for Charlie.
Treat one pitch or one hectare this September, keep a matched area untreated, and compare them through the season. You will see it in the cores by spring.