Micro-organisms keep courts at tennis park Duinvliet dry and clean

ARTICLE

MARKET & CURRENT AFFAIRS

Wijnand Meijboom, Tuesday 22 October 2024

153 sec

Tennis courts that remained waterlogged after rainfall and tennis balls turning orange from the clay prompted Xander van den Berg, owner of tennis park Duinvliet, to look for a new type of maintenance to address these two annoyances. He ended up choosing MO5 Sport by AlgaVelan.

Ewoud van de Wetering and Xander van den Berg

In the clubhouse of his tennis complex on Elswoutslaan in Haarlem, Van den Berg—who is also a tennis coach—explains that these two issues have caused him many headaches and taken up a lot of time over the past few years. He even had the twelve courts at the park renovated three times with a Top Clay top layer, but the problems kept returning. With a lot of mopping, he did manage to make the courts playable after rain. "The supplier of this top layer basically left us hanging," he says in hindsight. According to Ewoud van de Wetering of AlgaVelan, the issue also stemmed from a lack of knowledge. "With materials like Top Clay, the structure is such that it eventually clogs up with organic matter, which blocks water permeability. Its open structure also makes it a fertile breeding ground for algae and moss," he explains.

"These micro-organisms can't clean the entire surface at once; it takes some time"

After some searching on his computer, Van den Berg came across articles in this trade magazine about chemical-free maintenance using MO5 Sport at TV Beekhuizen. That's how the contact with AlgaVelan was established. In December 2022, MO5 Sport was applied for the first time at Duinvliet. The balls quickly stopped turning orange, and the water permeability was restored after a year. "These micro-organisms can't clean the entire surface at once. That takes some time," Van de Wetering clarifies.

putting it to the test

MO5 Sport is a liquid product made up of micro-organisms that essentially digest organic pollution on outdoor sports surfaces. "This product doesn't kill anything, but it does clean everything up," Van de Wetering summarizes. Van den Berg was immediately intrigued by this method but played it safe with a test using two small trays to see if the micro-organisms actually worked. He recorded a video of the result. In the tray without MO5 Sport, his finger turned orange when dipped; in the tray with the product, his finger remained clean. "Beautiful," says Van de Wetering with a laugh. "I sometimes show the video to convince people."

a matter of consistency

Van den Berg has thus empirically confirmed that the product works, although he initially found it hard to believe that just 1.5 litres of micro-organisms dissolved in water would be enough to treat the large surface of a tennis court. "It's advisable to apply this product even during hot weather. It's really a matter of staying consistent." Van de Wetering agrees: "If you only do it halfway, it won't work." Since applying MO5 Sport, the tennis players at Duinvliet have clean balls again, and after a heavy downpour, the water is gone within half an hour.

"Many still reach for Roundup to control weeds, not knowing it actually stimulates moss growth"

To also tackle weed removal without chemicals on the park and around the tennis courts, Van den Berg has been spraying hot water since late September. He owns a sprayer from Empas to apply MO5 Sport. Together with AlgaVelan, this Veenendaal-based company organized a demonstration of the hot water machine, which essentially boils the weeds. Van de Wetering: "It's a great addition to treatment with micro-organisms. Many still reach for Roundup to fight weeds, but they don't realize it actually greatly stimulates moss growth. You're spending money, but achieving nothing."
Using the sprayer sometimes draws concerned looks—people often think something toxic is being sprayed. A sign donated by AlgaVelan reading "100% biological" is meant to clear up that misunderstanding.

environmental offense

Van de Wetering often sees chemical products still being used to keep courts clean. "But none of them work. In fact, on ninety percent of courts, an environmental offense is being committed weekly. The active ingredients are foreign to the environment and inevitably end up in nature. That's in violation of the new Environment and Planning Act. People also don't realize that these chemicals can transfer from tennis balls to the players' hands."
He hopes to see this change and seizes every opportunity to promote his chemical-free method. When he entered the sports market with his company seven years ago, he often faced resistance and indifference. Now, users like Van den Berg know that these micro-organisms effectively tackle contamination on clay courts—without harming the environment.

This article was previously published on October 22, 2024, on the Fieldmanager website.

AlgaVelan Nederland

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