Tom Rowell has been working in the golf course maintenance industry his entire career. Currently, he is in the Golf & Turf Division at Northeast Nursery. He reflects, “It’s amazing to think that one of the first biological products I ever came in contact with was over 30 years ago. At that time there weren’t many around, very few on the trade-show floor. Now, as time has gone on, biological products are part of our everyday use in the golf maintenance business,“ he states.
“I first met Steve Nichols and Soil Technologies in 1988 in Anaheim at the GCSAA Show. Steve had a booth there selling biological products and that caught my eye because it was advertising soil compaction relief. So I struck up a conversation with Steve, and after a couple years of researching their TurfTech product, I eventually purchased some product and started applying TurfTech on some compacted fairways, clay-based areas at the 18-hole golf club that I was working at. These were areas that would harden up like concrete in the summers.
"And, lo and behold, a few years later we were installing some yardage markers on these fairways and it occurred to us (my asst. and myself), as we were putting shovels in the ground and digging, that the soil was much more friable than other areas of the course where we hadn’t been using TurfTech and we could really see the benefits of the product,” Tom comments.
Then, as the research department at Soil Technologies kept looking into things, they began to employ bacteria for nitrogen-fixation and the new product became TurfTech II. From there, as the company worked with several universities, they brought out disease-suppressing microbiology that was incorporated into the product and TurfTech Bio was created.
Tom continues, “So, I was a superintendent up until 2000 and I really saw the benefits of the Soil Tech products we used on our golf course. When I went into product sales, I began offering Soil Tech products to my golf course customers. I have had some recent success supplying the Soil Tech products to courses looking to reduce their inputs of fertilizer and pesticides, fungicides, in particular. It can be done by using the Soil Tech products. They see very extensive root systems and drought-resistant turf,” Tom emphasizes.
Concluding, Tom states, “The thing that impresses me about Soil Technologies is just that they continue to research and expand the product line. The recent development of their Liquid Aeration program looks like it’s going to have a really nice place in the industry. It’s going to be able to help lawn care, golf, and everyone to streamline their processes. In this day and age with the lack of labor and help and how hard it is to do conventional aerification, if a product like this can help with relieving thatch and soil compaction and manage those situations it would certainly be a great help. And it seems like they have some great research and anecdotal evidence behind its effectiveness.”
TurfTech Bio has been solving problems for 100’s of golf courses since 1985. This triple-action biofertilizer reduces soil compaction, cuts fertilizer needs, and suppresses turfgrass pathogens.
Andy Morris, GCS at the Country Club of Peoria in Illinois, has been using Soil Tech’s TurfTech Bio for the past 15 years. He wasn’t really looking to change the soil characteristics of their golf course. “Really, for us it was more about a healthier plant, trying to utilize some of the natural nitrogen in the soil system. Let the microbes do the work and break that down so that the plant can then take that and use it; develop a strong system below ground in order to produce a plant that’s really happy and healthy above ground. And TurfTech Bio works well with our strategies and formulas”, Andy said. “If you have a healthy microorganism population within the soil, then you’re going to have healthy soils and plants.”
The easy-to-use formulation consists of nitrogen-fixing cyanobacteria that restore the soils biological fertility, beneficial bacteria to inhibit fungal development, and polysaccharides that improve the crumb structure of the soil. “These polysaccharides form larger soil aggregates which appear to be beneficial to the soil,” claims Iowa State University microbiologist, Dr. Fred Williams. Dr. Williams’ research documented a structural change in soils treated with TurfTech Bio.
The CC of Peoria used to have bad dollar spot issues on their golf course, but Andy says they don’t see as much of that any longer. And they are not seeing some of the soil borne pathogen patch diseases and stressed turf they had seen in the past prior to using TurfTech Bio. “Our turf has done very well. It’s all parts of the pie that make the whole, but TurfTech Bio is definitely a part of that pie” said Andy. The CC of Peoria golf course has cut their nitrogen use and expense to almost half since adopting the TurfTech Bio program.
The TurfTech Bio product can be applied with ground spray rigs or through irrigation injection systems. Applied at 4-6 week intervals during the growing season, TurfTech Bio provides an economical way to build and maintain an ideal soil. It can be tank-mixed and worked into rotation with other products and combined with other inputs whether it’s a wetting agent, growth regulator or a compatible fungicide application.
Superintendents spray TurfTech Bio to produce fantastic fairways, terrific tees, and gorgeous greens. Andy concludes, “I enjoy the benefits of the TurfTech Bio on our golf course. It’s been a great product for us and Soil Tech is a great company to work with.”
Derek Rose (shown here with his dog, Izzy) is the GCS at Eagle Ranch Golf in Eagle, Colorado.
At the Golfdom Summit in 2015, Derek came across Soil Tech Corp. Xavier Dupoux was giving a speech about the products that Soil Tech has developed. Derek says that, “When he mentioned the Thatch Relief and the Oasys Ultra it really caught my eye and spurred my interest, you know, a way to help improve our tee boxes where we don’t have the man-hours to help properly maintain them health-wise, so I thought it would be a great idea to start using those products.”
"Derek continues, “So I started using Thatch Relief and Oasys Ultra just this year. I’ve seen probably a 50% increase in the firmness of our tee boxes, the moisture levels in our tee boxes have gone down…they’re not as spongy. Golfers have even noticed the tee box firmness has improved. So we’re going to continue that program through this year. We’ve done 2 applications already this spring. We’ll do another one this fall and we’re going to start doing the greens next year as well.”
"When Derek discusses his golf course, it’s clear that the lack of budget dollars has been a real challenge. “So, we have a lot of acreage out here we’ve got to take care of. The whole golf course is 150 acres, of which we maintain about 115 of those acres. We’ve got about 3.8 acres of greens, about 3.8 acres of tees, about 80 acres of fairways, so we’ve got a lot to maintain. And, we have a pretty small budget and we also have a pretty small crew, so when it comes to tee boxes we’ve definitely neglected top-dressing and aerification over the years, just because we haven’t had time to do it, can’t afford the sand, don’t have time for the man-hours to punch holes, remove thatch mechanically…. We have done that, but we’re not keeping up with it. I wanted to try and start to use something that would help, kind of biologically, in a sense, removing thatch and seeing if we could help improve the health of our tees that way.”
"Derek reflects on his tee boxes and says, “I would think if I were to try to maintain the tee boxes properly that would add up to $100,000-$200,000 a year extra on top of our budget. I’d imagine, at least, with labor and sand and all that other stuff.”
He concludes, “So, we’re going to try and do this program with Soil Tech products and improve the health of our tees by only spending a few thousand dollars instead.”
Ever wonder what are typical PGA green-speeds? As recently as a decade ago, green speeds were about a whole Stimpmeter point slower than today. However, championship-level golf has become increasingly obsessed with chasing green speeds as agronomy continues to improve, enabling setup crews to pursue faster greens.
“Over the past few years, the demand for green speeds above and beyond the norm is on the golf course maintenance staffs agenda now more than ever before. The goal has been to increase ball roll without detriment to the turf,” says Phil Garside, Supt. of the 18-hole championship golf course at the Olde Hickory Golf & Country Club in Fort Myers, Fl. The course was designed by legendary Ron Garl.
The Maintenance Department for the Olde Hickory Golf Course has tried different silicate products to help strengthen cell structure inside the leaf tissue to help promote a more solid leaf blade. The chelated products have helped to produce a more upright growth habit on their “TifEagle” greens leading to a better cut from their mowers and less resistance to the golf ball. Hence, improved green speeds.
After testing a variety of different products, they have found that Soil Tech’s liquid product, KCS 2-0-14 applied to greens @2 gal/acre with Primo @4 oz/acre every two weeks gives them their desired results.
Phil says that throughout their high season, October to May, they increased their height of cut to .150 and still maintained speeds between 11.25 and 12 on the Stimpmeter. “No big flushes in growth, a nice color, tight dense upright plant and an improved root system. In conjunction with other cultural practices, Soil Tech’s KCS 2-0-14 “is a must for golf green health, playability and golfer satisfaction” says Phil.
Meet Darin Douglas, Supt of the Mt. Prospect Golf Club in Mt Prospect, IL.
The golf course was originally built in the 1920s, so it had all original greens and soil. The soil in the fairways was pretty much the soil that was there. So, they just stockpiled all the topsoil and spread it back out. There were areas where the soil was good and not so good.
In June 2014 the Mt Prospect Golf Club closed for renovations for a little over a year. The golf course went through a full renovation. The holes were all newly routed, with complete USGA greens replacing the old soil pushup greens. Golfweek Magazine says that Mt. Prospect Golf Club is one of the top 15 “best courses you can play in Illinois.”
Darin first heard about Soil Tech products from his predecessor Fred Behnke, CGCS. While Darin was assistant supt., he remembers Fred calling the TurfTech Bio product “pixie dust.” “Fred would always say: go spray that pixie dust. He believed in the product and I just kept on the program ever since and really saw good results from it” said Darin.
Right after the renovation Darin noticed there was standing water on some fairways and he noted that he hadn’t used TurfTech Bio that year. The following season he started applying the product again. “Using TurfTech Bio through the grow-in really helped the germination and the process move forward nicely. The rest of the grass caught up—like the slower germinating maturing turf caught up with the rest after I got back on the program. All those wet spots pretty much disappeared,” says Darin.
As far as saving money, Darin said “TurfTech Bio definitely saves us money in fairway fertilizing. I basically don’t use any granular fertilizer on the fairways.” Other than some fertilizer he puts on through the irrigation system (that he does periodically), all of his fairway fertilizing comes from Soil Tech’s TurfTech Bio. “So it’s saving me quite a bit of money not having to spread fertilizer throughout the season. For the acreage with tees and fairways it’s probably saving at least $9000/$10000 a year. The $3000 investment for Turf Tech Bio—you get a good return for the product.”
"Green" is a word commonly used in the turf industry. In the case of Steve Nichols, V.P. of Soil Tech Corp. and John Carlone, CGCS at Meadow Brook Club on Long Island NY, Nichols says, “When I first met John in 1986, we were both pretty green. I was in my first year of golf course sales, and John was in his first year as superintendent at Middle Bay CC. Somehow we’ve continued the relationship and remained friends over the past 32 years.”
Nichols continues, “When I first met John Carlone, he was a young guy open to the idea of a new product to improve the sandy soils on his golf course. TurfTech Bio was the product that Soil Tech was introducing to the golf course market at that time and even though all of our research (up to that point) had focused on agricultural soils, John was still motivated to try the product and document the results on his golf course.”
According to John, “From the first time Steve spoke with me regarding TurfTech, it sounded like a valuable product for use on golf course turf. After learning more about it, I decided to try it for two main reasons: (1) To get better moisture retention in the rootzone of the sandy soils that existed at my golf courses. (2) To try to replace expensive wetting agents.”
Carlone decided to test the product on 2 acres of fairway turf and to compare the treated areas to adjacent untreated areas. In this way he felt that he would have the test results to prove the product. Over the 42-day duration of the test (June 24-August 5) he observed, “Before treatment, these fairways were regularly irrigated from 20-25 minutes. After the treatments with Turftech, I was able to reduce irrigation time to 10 to 15 minutes per sprinkler. Also, the turf in the untreated check plots did not seem as dense as the treated turf.”
Based on these initial results, Carlone took the next step. “In order to study the effects of TurfTech further, I treated all 21 acres of fairway turf on Sept 20. While this was not optimum growing season, 5 weeks after application of TurfTech, the divots in the treated areas were more filled with grass blades than the untreated areas,” he reported in a letter.
Nichols comments, “In the letter that John Carlone wrote to me on December 9, 1986 he documents his test results and concludes with, Thank you for introducing me to this fine product.” And, that was the beginning of a 32-year connection.
From that point forward, Soil Tech followed John’s advice to get some university research done on the product. John remembers that, “You not only did it then, but continue to have your products tested now. I think that is an important aspect of your company that separates you from other ‘Bio’ companies. Maybe that's why Soil Tech has been around longer than most ‘Bio’ companies.”
Nichols says, “Over the years I always had an affinity for John and his kind support for a young sales rep and his new product. When I would see him at shows or at his new golf course (Meadow Brook Club) we always shared turf stories, kept up on family, and talked about the latest and greatest in turf research on bio-products.”
More recently, during the GIS 2018 in San Antonio, Carlone came to visit the Soil Tech booth on the trade show floor. Within minutes of his arrival, John was helping Steve Nichols introduce the Soil Tech brand to other superintendents and sharing his perspective. Steve comments,” It’s just how John is. Helpful, friendly, and knowledgeable. It’s been a great bond over the years. We are both still very excited about our careers and our industry and the growth we’ve been part of.”
These two ‘green’ young guys are still enjoying their lives and careers, even though their ‘greenness’ has been replaced by some ‘greyness.’ “It’s been a great journey, says Nichols, “and I’m glad that John Carlone has been part of it.”
Joe Ettawageshik is Golf Course Supt. at LochenHeath Golf Course in Traverse City, Michigan. Joe started as a second assistant 10 years ago and then, two years ago, became Director of Grounds and Maintenance. Over the past decade, Joe observed how his bosses used different fertilizer and chemical regimes. When he became superintendent, he started to develop his own strategies, which included being open to trying new products.
A few years ago, Joe decided to do a trial run with Soil Tech’s Bio-Mega product. “The Bio-Mega product was a pretty unique one as far as the organic nature of it,” Joe said, “[but] my philosophy revolves around minimal inputs to get maximum outputs, so I was looking to try to reduce chemical and fertilizer applications and still get the same results.” Joe was hoping Bio-Mega would help him do that.
Joe initially tried Bio-Mega on LochenHeath’s new, 5-acre practice facility. He incorporated Bio-Mega into his normal fertilizer and chemical program. Over a two-year period, he started to wean off some of the other inputs and still saw great results.
In the 2nd year of this trial, the fungicide that they normally use was accidently left out of the spray tank (twice). That meant two months of no fungicides in the middle of the summer!
In the areas treated with Bio-Mega, the turf was still fine and they did not see any disease. Though he hadn’t planned to omit the fungicides, Joe could see that the Bio-Mega was helping because he did see disease in areas of the golf course that were not treated with Bio-Mega.
For Joe, it’s about having LochenHeath Golf Course be the best product possible. He believes that being preventative and treating the soil is extremely important. “Treating the soil is where the plant starts and where it comes from. That’s where it needs to be healthy. So, having that treated there only makes the grass healthier and prevents disease outbreaks.”
All in all, Joe is happy he decided to experiment with Bio-Mega. He says, “Bio-Mega is very simple and easy to use. It mixes up very well with every product. So no compatibility issues. No extra time. It was very easy to add to our program.”
“After seeing an ad for the Liquid Aeration program, and then reading a few testimonials, my interest grew in the products. A lot of golf is crammed into our short seasons here in Wyoming, so anything we can do to stay ahead is a bonus. After 3 years on the program, I am sold and especially after 2020,” says Superintendent John Roth, GCS at Paradise Valley Golf Center in Casper, Wyoming.
He goes on to explain what it was that sold him on the Soil Tech program, “Upon starting this program I felt our greens were in good shape so a noticeable difference was not obvious right away. What was obvious was the condition of the greens the following spring. The wind in Wyoming during the winter is utterly ruthless so desiccation is always my biggest concern (much more than any winter fungus even when we average 80” of snow). Since we only topdress heavy with no covers, we have to keep an eye on them and keep the water flowing.”
“When the temperatures started upward, I was very pleased to see that all the greens were without any issues, therefore good playing conditions were achieved much earlier,” states John.
He goes on to explain how Liquid Aeration helped him during the 2020 golf season, “This past year we were scheduled to replace our irrigation controllers. With the material on-site and then the COVID-19 virus starting to cause problems, we decided against bringing in a contractor and to do the work ourselves. The extremely dry weather put the job into a critical phase as we didn’t want to be without water for too long. With the virus came an unbelievable amount of golfers which caused a huge delay when trying to identify sprinklers in between groups of players. Every day the crew asked me if there was another tournament and every day I said NO, just jobless golf fanatics. Since they were on the worst irrigation schedule possible, I fully expected to have some issues with the greens, but honestly, even with all they were facing, the low humidity and high temps, sporadic watering and heavy traffic, the greens were fine. I don’t plan on undertaking another project like that in the middle of the summer, but I now know that these greens with Thatch Relief and Oasys Ultra can handle a lot of stress.”
And, according to John, there are many other advantages. “Throughout the summers in the past we have had our fair share of LDS and extra attention was always needed. The past two years we have not had those issues and especially this year with no rainfall from April to mid-September I felt that the Thatch Relief was doing its job.”
When asked about the ease of usage with the products, he says, “We spray on a normal basis every two weeks and to integrate this program into the existing routine was not even a consideration. It is a reasonably priced program, but when we can eliminate hand watering and a couple needle-tines throughout the summer its cost effectiveness becomes even greater. Also, I have always been a fan of organics so to try another product is just normal business.”
Lastly, John concludes, “Due to the fact that the summers in Wyoming are quite short most years, and then very unpredictable the next, we do not always complete our list of projects…..aerification being one of them. Pulling plugs in the snow or waiting for the ground to thaw seems to be a common occurrence. With the small window to get our work done, comes an even smaller level of golfer patience. Anything we can do to keep the course playable is truly our biggest goal. Liquid Aeration is a plus in that regard.”
When Dale Walters, CGCS at Moorings CC in Naples FL was asked about doing some tests on his fairways of a promising new nematode control program, he was happy to co-operate. With more than 20 years experience at the Moorings Club, Dale had been looking for a more cost-effective application that could help him reduce nematode control inputs without sacrificing turfgrass quality.
Dale was familiar with running agronomic tests on his greens, as he had previously worked with the USGA in analyzing the effects of treadless tires for tractors used to spread fertilizer on greens. He concluded that, “Equipping the tractors with smooth tires led to significant savings in time and labor compared to the standard push sprayers, and we have not observed any playing quality or aesthetic issues since switching to tractor-mounted spreading.” Read more here.
The nematode control study was implemented at Moorings CC in 2019. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of natural nematode control products on golf course turf. Two ¼ acre fairway plots were tested, both with Armorex and Bac-Pack. Nematode counts were analyzed before and after completion of the protocols.
Dale concluded, “After applications with Armorex and Bac-Pack on several areas at the Moorings Country Club in Naples, Florida, I am excited to report that nematode counts have been reduced significantly. The treatments reduced lance nematode counts by as much as 90%. The areas treated looked weak and unhealthy prior to application. A couple weeks after being treated with Armorex and Bac-Pack, those areas have recovered nicely.”
The test results indicated that the treatment protocol was effective in the control of infestations with high nematode counts.
There are thousands of varieties of nematodes, some beneficial and some harmful. Nematodes have adapted to just about every ecosystem on the planet—they live at high and low elevations, in polar and tropical regions, in fresh water, seawater and on land. In the world of soil-based agriculture, most harmful nematodes fall into the sting, lance or gall types. According to the APS (American Phytopathological Society), nematodes account for an estimated 14% of all worldwide plant losses or nearly $100 billion dollars annually!
Root-knot or gall nematodes are the worst culprits of the group. These nematodes form a gall or bump on the root of the plant and live inside it. Although nematodes are microscopic, the galls they form are often quite large. They damage roots so much that they can no longer provide proper nourishment to the plants. It's really easy to see the damage that's caused by the root-knot nematode, and it costs global agriculture a lot of money because it's very difficult to control.
Nematode Control Methods
Methods of nematode control fall into three broad categories: Cultural practices, chemical control and biological control.
Cultural Methods of Nematode Control
Rotating crops is a good way to control nematodes. You may have a crop that’s highly susceptible to nematodes, and then you rotate that field to other crops that are not susceptible. For example, if you have a field that you've been growing tomatoes in for 2-3 years and you rotate that to pasture grasses for 2-3 years, you will systematically and culturally control the nematodes.
The type of root-knot nematodes that damage tomatoes does not colonize the roots of grasses. When you transfer the field to grasses, you're basically creating an environment where the root-knot nematode no longer has a host. If you remove the host, the population will decrease in the field. This is the opposite of monocropping, where you grow the same crop over and over again, allowing the population of nematodes to become progressively more problematic year after year. Crop rotation is a cultural way of controlling nematodes, and it can work quite well. There are even cover crops which produce chemicals that are toxic to nematodes. However, if you have several types of nematodes in your soil, finding a crop rotation that will starve out all of them can be a bit tricky.
Mechanical methods, such as repeated tilling of fallow soil, may also be useful, but may be difficult to implement on a large scale.
Chemical Control of Nematodes
Chemical controls include fumigants and nervous system toxins. Fumigants have to penetrate a large volume of soil to be effective, and some of them volatize quickly. Large amounts of chemicals are often used, leading to increased risk and expense. Methyl bromide, a broad-spectrum pesticide often used for nematode control, is being phased out under the Clean Air Act. This has led to a search for alternatives.
Nervous system toxins can also provide effective nematode control. Because they are not toxic to plants, these chemicals (carbamates and organophosphates) can be applied after plants are growing and nematode damage is visible. However, since human beings also have nervous systems, any chemical treatments that target the nematode nervous system are a potential danger to humans. These chemicals are extremely toxic to humans and other non-target organisms, but there are alternatives.
Biochemical and Biological Nematode Control
Biochemical and biological controls can be used in conjunction with other controls or on their own. By naturally repelling nematodes and improving plant health, these methods may decrease dependence on chemical controls.
SoilTech Corp has two products that can be used for nematode control: Armorex and Nemastop.
Armorex is a full spectrum soil treatment that can help control soil borne fungi and insects in the soil as well as parasitic nematodes. Made from natural oils, it kills on contact and maintains a repellent action against many soil insects, nematodes and fungi. Armorex is exempt from EPA residue tolerance requirements and there are no re-entry restrictions. Sometimes used in place of methyl bromide, Armorex can be used as a soil pretreatment or during the growing season.
Nemastop is used post-planting to control nematodes and fungi. Composed of organic extracts blended with fatty acids, Nemastop can be used on turfgrass, ornamentals and food crops. It’s non-phytotoxic and also carries no residue tolerance.
Integrated Pest Management (IPM) is a widely recognized and practiced approach to pest control in agriculture. What are the principles of IPM and how is it used? In this blog post we’ll cover some valuable information about this comprehensive practice.
IPM is a broad approach to pest control that takes into account several common-sense practices and rotation of pesticide applications. By taking information about plant and pest life cycles into account, IPM functions intelligently to control pests in the most economical and least risk-creating way.
Is IPM Organic or Conventional?
IPM is not a single type of pest management, but several strategies used in conjunction with one another. As such, IPM does not belong exclusively to either conventional agriculture or organic agriculture, but can be and is frequently applied in both. Conventional agriculture may use certain commonly held cultural practices alongside a rotation of available synthetic pesticides. Organic agriculture may hold those same practices, but only use naturally derived biopesticides when treating crops. Or, an IPM program may likely use a combination of both types of pesticides.
Principles of IPM
Though one IPM program can differ greatly from the next, IPM generally follows these basic four principles:
Regardless of the types and quantities of the above principles and controls used, the essential component of any IPM program is rotation. Pest control methods are changed frequently and strategically to prohibit pests from adapting and becoming resistant to any one method. When only one type of control is used, pests easily become resistant, and increasing amounts of the same material or practice are needed to control them. By rotating methods through IPM, lower quantities of pesticides and other practices are needed.
Almost all farmers and growers practice IPM to some extent, ideally using every available pest control resource in an economical, efficient way that is most beneficial to the entire environment. Here at Soil Technologies Corp., we make a range of natural pest control products, including Garlic Gard and Nemastop to control pests, but they’re only one part of a larger rotation of methods and materials. We encourage all growers to use these and other products together with Integrated Pest Management in mind.
Biochemical and biological nematode control methods are useful for those who want to decrease the expense and risk associated with toxic agricultural chemicals without reducing yields. There are three basic approaches to biochemical/biological control of nematodes:
Increase Soil Health
A live and healthy soil is filled with beneficial microorganisms which facilitate nutrient transfer for plants. A soil that supports a wide variety of biological life is less likely to be overrun by a single destructive pest.
The variety and amount of soil microorganisms can be increased by amending with well-prepared compost and/or microbial inoculants. Although amendments measurably increase yields, their impact on specific species of nematodes varies. In addition, large amounts of organic matter may be required. Fortunately, the results of adding organic matter continue over the course of years, making it possible to build soil health over time.
Building overall soil health is a long-term project, but increasing plant nutrition and the health of soil near the root zone can be as simple as applying a nutrient solution.
Increase Plant Nutrition
"You are what you eat" is as true for plants as it is for humans. Plants that suffer from nutrient deficiencies are more susceptible to insect and nematode damage and all the diseases that come with them. In the years since the development of standard NPK fertilizers, many growers have come to understand that there is more to plant nutrition than these three major nutrients, and they look for a fertilizer composition that supplies a broad spectrum of nutrients, micronutrients, and beneficial microbes.
The ingredients in INTERCEPT and ROBUST, both by Soil Tech, have been shown to reduce the amount of synthetic chemicals needed for maintaining plant root and foliage health. In addition, plants use the ingredients in these products to increase the health of their root zone, the place where nematodes attack. These products increase the biology of the soil and colonize the root system of the plants so that they produce their own antibiotic microenvironments—the rhizosphere of the root. In the presence of these antibiotics, the nematodes do not attack the root system.
If more targeted nematode control is needed, growers do have alternatives to dangerous agricultural chemicals.
Decrease Nematode Population
Although toxic insecticides and pesticides have been the norm in agriculture for several decades, the climate is changing. For the past 30 years Soil Tech has been helping growers reduce or eliminate their use of harmful chemicals.
ARMOREX, Soil Tech's flagship product, is a full-spectrum soil treatment that is so safe there are no re-entry restrictions. ARMOREX is also exempt from EPA residue tolerance requirements. So although it does sterilize the soil somewhat, it is much safer than other approaches. Using a collection of botanical oils, ARMOREX controls for parasitic nematodes including:
ARMOREX also controls several common soil-borne fungi and destructive soil insects, both by killing on contact and by maintaining a repellent action against many soil insects, nematodes and fungi. Target crops include a wide variety of vegetables, fruits, ornamentals and turf grass.
If you are trying to address a specific nematode problem, let Soil Tech help you design an integrated plan of attack that will protect your crops without endangering your growers.
Soil Tech has been in the microbial business for decades. That gives us a depth of experience that other manufacturers just don't have, and it also gives us a lot of satisfied customers! If you want to know more, click on over to our customer video testimonials on Turftech BioMin and listen to a 15 year user tell us about the many benefits he's seen with this product. Turf color improved right away, and soil and turf quality have continued to improve over the years of continued use. This very satisfied customer has also found TurfTech BioMin economical to use because it has eliminated so many other costs, includingbrown patch treatment, pre-emergent & post-emergent controls, Poa controls and seedhead control.
While there are many insects that are considered pests and may pose a threat to crops, there are many more insects that are actually beneficial to plants and eliminate other harmful insects. In this blog post, we’ll explain what beneficial insects are and how to protect and use them to benefit your crops.
What are Beneficial Insects?
Beneficial Insects are insects that perform positive functions in a growing environment. This commonly includes pollination or pest control. Beneficial Insects can occur naturally in an environment, or they can be added to increase positive effects in a growing environment. Utilizing the effects of beneficial insects is an economically valuable practice in any agriculture setting.
Encouraging beneficial insects by protecting them or adding more of them into a crop environment is a common component of Integrated Pest Management (IPM). Specific beneficial insects are encouraged for their ability to prey on a harmful and unwanted type of insect. Examples may include using beneficial wasps to control beetles, or using ladybugs to eliminate several different varieties of arthropods.
Other common beneficial insects include:
By first identifying the insect(s) that may cause harm to your crops, you can find beneficial insects that are the natural enemies of those pests. The advantage of beneficial insects over other forms of pest control is that they will continue to prey on unwanted pests with little to no work on the part of the grower.
How to Encourage & Protect Beneficial Insects
If you’ve identified a beneficial insect that preys on a species that is harming your crop, there are several ways to encourage and protect beneficial insects so that they will continue to perform positive functions in the environment. As long as beneficial insects are happy, you’ll have a self-sustaining means of pest control that will work for far longer than a single application of conventional pesticide.
One way to use beneficial insects is actually to buy them in large quantities from a commercial retailer, then distribute them in a field or closed environment such as a greenhouse.
But whether you’re adding more beneficial insects or simply supporting those naturally occurring in the growing environment, it is essential to encourage these insects by both supporting their ideal conditions and ensuring that they are not harmed or killed by other materials you add to your crops.
Doing research on the specific type of beneficial insect you want to encourage is essential to creating an environment that will continue to support that insect. You might add companion plants, such as those in the Apiaceae and Asteraceae families, to attract more beneficial insects and keep them around your crops.
You must also be conscious of the potential consequences to beneficial insects from other pesticides and materials that you apply to your crops. Many pesticide applications intended to kill harmful insects will inadvertently kill beneficial insects as well. Thus, if you are using another method of pest control, it is wise to protect beneficial insects by trying a method of control that won’t kill them.
One common and effective means of controlling pests is to use an insect repellent along with the effects of beneficial insects. Repellents will drive away unwanted pests without killing the insects you want to stick around. Here at Soil Technologies Corp., we carry Garlic Gard, an excellent repellent against a wide variety of plant parasitic insects. Because it does not kill insects, you can protect your beneficial insects and continue to see their positive effects.
What are plant hormones and why are they important? Here we will introduce a few common hormones and their functions, including cytokinins for root development.
What They Are
Plant hormones, also called phytohormones or plant growth factors, are signal molecules essential to plant growth. Unlike animals, which have glands to secrete hormones in the body, plants produce hormones in every cell, in low concentrations. These hormones have different functions in the physiology of the plant, from determining the formation of stems, leaves, and flowers to regulating fruit and even the death of the plant.
While plants produce their own hormones naturally, similar hormones produced by microorganisms and fungi can be added to the plant through shared soil. Hormones are produced and used for local cell functions, but the plant is also able to move those chemicals to different areas through processes of cytoplasmic streaming within the cell, slow diffusion between cells, and vascular tissues between different areas of the plant.
Types of Plant Hormones
The very low concentrations of hormones within a plant make them difficult to study. However, there are five major classes of formally recognized plant hormones. These groups contain hormones with similar chemical structures, all of which carry out both positive and inhibitory functions within the plant.
Boosting Plant Hormones
Because small microorganisms can also produce some of these same plant hormones, it is possible to aid the plant with these additional essential biochemicals. Here at Soil Technologies Corp., we believe in harnessing the power of natural plant hormone production to boost crop growth.
Our Microp products use cyanobacteria as a biofertilizer, which also produces cytokinin hormones. Once applied to the soil where a crop is growing, the cyanobacteria will release cytokinins into the soil chemistry. The cytokinins are then available to the plant and translocated to the growing point of the root, where they stimulate cell division and thereby expand the root structure.
Pests? Soil Tech can help. We specialize in pest control products that work and are safe for people, pets and the environment. New this week, we’ve got lower prices on some of our favorites and made smaller sizes available to make it easy for you to try them out.
CHASE MOLE
Get rid of moles, armadillos, gophers or other burrowing pests with Chase mole products. The granules are available in quantities from 6-600 pounds and the liquid version is available in sizes from 1 to 30 gallons. Our newly available smaller sizes are perfect if you only have a small area to treat or if you just want to give the product a trial run.
GARLIC GARD
Garlic Gard is a natural spray that you can use to repel anything from flying insects to rabbits and deer. Available in sizes from 1 gallon to 55 gallons, and the prices have been lowered on all sizes.
PLANT PRO-TEC
If deer or rabbits have discovered your plants, have a look at Plant Pro-Tec. These handy little devices clip on, last for 6 months or more, and are made from biodegradable plastic. Long-lasting Plant Pro-Tec was developed especially for use in the forestry industry. These individual controlled release repellents are perfect for protecting your plants from rabbits and deer without fences or sprays. Available in bags of 25 to 250 units, with a new, lower price on the largest size bag.
PHYDURA
If weeds are your problem, check out Phydura. This contact herbicide is made from plant extracts and is a great alternative for situations where you can’t or won’t use a chemical herbicide. Available in sizes from 1 gallon to 55 gallons, and we’ve lowered prices on our multi-packs of quarts and gallons.
NIMBIOSYS
Nimbiosys is made from pure neem oil. Neem oil is known to control insects by various means including disrupting their growth hormones, preventing reproduction and simply repelling them. We’ve lowered prices on our case offerings of Nimbiosys and made individual quart and gallon sizes available as well.
Whether it’s ornamental or agricultural, let Soil Tech help you out with all your plant needs. If you don’t see what you what you’re looking for, give us a call or send us an email--our experienced staff is here to help you out!
It’s an all-too-common occurrence--irrigation or rain water causing fertilizer to run off into nearby ponds and lakes. The turf is no greener, the plants no more lush, and fertilizer (and money) is wasted. And to top it all off, nearby ponds are polluted, leading to unsightly algae blooms. This pollution process has a long name: eutrophication.
A Closer Look at the Problem of Eutrophication
Eutrophication happens whenever a body of water becomes overfilled with nutrients thanks to runoff from the surrounding land, and it has become a hot topic in recent decades. The nutrients may come from several sources, including intentional fertilization, manure from animal operations, sewage sludge, and natural phenomenon such as falling autumn leaves.
While on land, these nutrients can be a resource. Displaced to the water, however, they quickly become a liability. The increased nutrients can cause algae blooms, leading the water to turn an unsightly pea soup color. The growth in algae leads to unsafe drinking water, fish kills, and even dead zones.
This topic made the news in summer 2014 when residents of Toledo, Ohio were banned from drinking tap water. This was due to the toxic algae bloom in Lake Erie. Growers and landscape professionals have been urged to reduce the amount of phosphorus they use and to undergo training in applying commercial fertilizers. What is your company doing to prevent and remedy such problems?
Simple Solutions for Eutrophication
Some very simple strategies can help make your business part of the solution, rather than the problem.
With a bit of thoughtful planning and careful choice of products, landscapers and land owners can do quite a lot to prevent eutrophication and keep nearby waterways healthy and beautiful.
Q: I have a section of lawn that is in really terrible shape. I would like to kill the existing weeds and grass and start over, but this lawn is part of a playground area, so I don’t want to use conventional weed killers--can you help?
A: Phydura is great for this type of situation. Choose a sunny day in fall or spring to spray and be careful that it does not drift onto humans, pets, or any plants you want to keep. Phydura will kill both grass and weeds, but will not harm humans or pets. It even smells good--like cloves!
For best results, you should apply Phydura again a few days later to make sure you've got everything. If you time it right, you can even spray once in late fall, let the remaining weeds and grass freeze over the winter, and then spray again in early spring.
Depending on how much dead plant matter there is, you may need to break it up or remove it before you go on. You should also fill in any low spots and improve your soil and fertilize before you plant again.
Select seed that is suited to the growing conditions where you are. Re-seed your lawn according to the directions on the bag of seed, and watch it grow!
