Steffi Graf Stadium pleased with
grow lighting technology

It’s been two years since the BU grow lighting range made its appearance on stadium pitches and training grounds. Since then, over a 100 of BU10 and BU50 grow lights have been active worldwide to help all grounds achieve a high quality grass playing surface, even those on limited budgets. Amongst these is a very special project at WTA Tour venue: Steffi Graf Stadium, in Berlin. Four BU50’s are used by the Steffi Graf Stadium since May this year to raise the standard of their Centre court for the well-known tennis event. British Groundsman David Bower is pleased with the results of his grow lights.

Every year in June, the world’s best female tennis players compete at the Steffi Graf Stadium to clinch the WTA German Open. As the Head Groundsman of the Steffi Graf Stadium, David Bower faces many challenges, one of the biggest being shade on the court.“Because of the big stands, the court suffers from a lot of shade during the year and even in the Spring months. In order to keep the quality of the court high during the event and our playing season, from March to October, we needed a tool to grow grass in the shaded areas.”

In order to overcome this challenge, David has been using grow lighting technology since May this year to emit the right amount of light energy and heat to allow the grass to grow and recover during his busy playing schedule.“We used four BU50’s in combination with germination sheets in the shaded areas and it worked really well. We used them overnight when it’s dark, allowing us to have 24 hours of growth and I’m really pleased with the results.”

David’s goal for next season is to have his court appear even stronger at the start of the tournament:“This year we got the lights a month before the tournament started. Next year, however, we plan to use them in the build-up to the tournament as well. They are great tools to use and easy to deploy, very suitable for use on a tennis court.”