Twenty-five years ago, TerraCottem didn’t exist. Dr Willem Van Cotthem at the University of Ghent was poised to discover TerraCottem’s base model: the fore-runner of a soil conditioner that’s made a success of projects around the world ever since. Back then, Van Cotthem’s team (from the Laboratory of Plant Morphology, Systematics and Ecology) were running [...]
A close up of the brilliant science behind the success of every project where TerraCottem is specified: root hairs penetrating the polymers within TerraCottem (Dr Maria Remedios Romero Aranda, Institute for Mediterranean and Subtropical Horticulture ‘La Mayora’, Malaga.)
Twenty-five years ago, TerraCottem didn’t exist. Dr Willem Van Cotthem at the University of Ghent was poised to discover TerraCottem’s base model: the fore-runner of a soil conditioner that’s made a success of projects around the world ever since. Back then, Van Cotthem’s team (from the Laboratory of Plant Morphology, Systematics and Ecology) were running a research project, growing plants in the semi-arid Sahel region of Africa. The project’s findings were simple and powerful - by mixing certain hydro-absorbent, nutritive and root growth stimulating components, a soil conditioning compound was created that produced dramatic and swift results.
Fast forward to present day and we have TerraCottem in various forms. Based on the Ghent University’s original research and technology, it has since been tweaked for different horticultural scenarios. Alongside the brilliant recipe is the fact that it comes with support, via the horticultural expertise of the TerraCottem team. These are people who know how TerraCottem can help; how best to put it into the landscape; how to train operations staff. They’ll even monitor results and offer the information so everyone benefits.
So let’s mark this special year by taking a look at some of the astonishing projects that have been made possible by TerraCottem. It’s great science and innovation, it’s had legs for 25 years, and it’s expected to carry great projects forward in the years to come...
Estadio Unico in Argentina has a playing surface of living turf modules – 6,600 of them, each filled with a drainage layer and a growing medium of 95% 180/220 sand. Along with 5% peat, 150 grams of TerraCottem per square metre is added to increase the poor water and nutrient holding capacity of this root zone layer. The growing medium is then covered with Tifton 419 – Tifway turf and overseeded with ryegrass.This last-century sewerage treatment plant in South Australia has been transformed with the clever use of earthworks, 187,000 local provenance plants and the establishment boosting benefits of TerraCottem. The newly created high points are covering themselves in sections of shrubland and open woodland; the lakes have aquatics and are rimmed by the riparian plantings; and the birds have arrived.Oudenaarde, a historic city in the Flemish Ardennes, is famous for its floral displays. As soon as the TerraCottem technology was adopted by the city’s open space department, they saw maintenance costs drop and it’s been specified in annual plantings ever since. The 9,000 annuals planted in 2017 went into a soil mix, to which five kilos of TerraCottem Universal was added per cubic metre. No fertiliser is added during the entire season, and the flower displays are watered once a week, where previously up to three times was the norm.
