Want to keep up with the latest news in lawn care and landscaping? Check back every Thursday for a quick recap of recent happenings in the green industry.
Greenworks Partners with SiteOne for Nationwide Distribution
Greenworks Commercial is partnering with SiteOne Landscape Supply for nationwide distribution, in locations across the U.S. and online, of its 82-volt battery-powered commercial line of outdoor power equipment. “SiteOne is the standard-bearer for industry knowledge and expertise, and we are thrilled to partner with their team to distribute our new line of best-in-class battery-powered commercial outdoor power equipment,” said Chris Allen, President of Greenworks North America. “When looking for a wholesale partner, it was very important to us that we identified a group that puts the success of the landscaper first. In SiteOne, we’ve found just that.”
Pinpoint Fungicide Receives Registration
Pinpoint Fungicide has been registered for controlling dollar spot in turfgrass, reports Valent U.S.A. and Nufarm. Pinpoint optimizes disease management programs for golf course superintendents and turf lawn care operators by providing consistent turf quality throughout the season while helping combat dollar spot resistance. The active ingredient in Pinpoint is mandestrobin, a new strobilurin (Qol). Pinpoint, developed by Valent in conjunction with Nufarm, has been under field development with numerous university researchers since 2006. Pinpoint, available through Nufarm, is labeled for use on turf and lawn sites including: golf courses, lawns around residential, institutional, public, commercial and industry buildings; parks, recreational areas, athletic fields; and sod farms.
Study Shows Seed Coating Helps Turf Under Deficit Irrigation
The authors of a study in the August 2016 issue of HortTechnology evaluated the effects of a low-dose concentration of nonionic, block copolymer surfactant applied directly to turfgrass seed within a film coating. Their results showed that coatings promote seed germination and improve turfgrass establishment under deficit irrigation conditions.
The researchers conducted two separate experiments with tall fescue and perennial ryegrass at the Eastern Oregon Agricultural Research Center in Burns. The first experiment evaluated the influence of a surfactant film coating (SFC) treatment on seed germination. Germination was compared between seeds with a SFC and untreated seeds in growth chambers at three constant temperatures: 10, 20, and 30 degrees Celsius. Analyses showed that the SFC decreased the time for seed germination and improved germination synchrony for both turfgrass species. Application of a SFC did not influence final germination percentage.
The second experiment determined the effects of SFC treatments on seedling emergence and plant growth. Untreated and treated seed were compared in a grow-room study, with pots watered weekly to 70 percent of field capacity. Perennial ryegrass density, cover, and aboveground biomass from the SFC were ≈47, 48 and 46 percent greater than untreated seed, respectively. Tall fescue density, cover, and aboveground biomass from the SFC seeds were ≈22, 23 and 28 percent greater than untreated seed, respectively.
Jacobsen To Be Combined With Textron Specialized Vehicles
Textron Specialized Vehicles Inc. and Jacobsen will combine their operations by the close of 2017 in order to optimize efficiencies and better serve the companies’ shared customers and distributors. The marriage of the two companies will allow them to better serve their shared customers in golf and other industries, and operate more efficiently through a common supply chain and efficiencies of scale in manufacturing and back-office operations. As part of the integration, Jacobsen’s operations in Charlotte, NC will relocate to TSV facilities in Augusta, Georgia, with the first phase of relocation expected to be completed by the end of March, and all operations planned to be relocated by the close of 2017. Jacobsen’s field sales and service teams will remain in place, and its operations in Coatesville, Indiana and Ipswich, United Kingdom will continue.
Arborjet Announces “Taking Root” Scholarship Winners
Arborjet saw a record number of applicants in its third year of its “Taking Root” College Scholarship program. The following students were selected to receive a $1,000 scholarship to pursue full-time studies in forestry, plant sciences, horticulture, entomology, environmental science or a related major at an accredited two-year or four-year college:
- Maureen Cottrell, of Haverill, Massachusetts, University of Massachusetts Amherst
- Tess Reeves of Orange, Virginia, Virginia Tech
- Charles Smith of Holt, Michigan, Michigan State University
- Jessica Sourbeer of Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, Penn State University
- Elise Tomaszewski of Saint Clair Shores, Michigan, Michigan State University
- Lauren Trapani of East Greenwich, Rhode Island, The Ohio State University
- Conor Smiith of North Grandy, Connecticut, University of New Hampshire
- Brenna Christensen of Harwinton, Connecticut, University of Vermont
- Lucy Lee of Forest Hills, New York, Cornell University
- Kellee Edington of Terre Haute, Indiana, Purdue University
Ditch Witch Event Draws Attendance From 24 Countries
Ditch Witch, a Charles Machine Works Company based in Perry, Oklahoma, recently hosted its 14th annual international customer event in Barcelona, Spain. As one of the largest underground construction events in Europe, 320 customers attended, representing 24 countries across Europe, the Middle East and Africa. The one-day event included revealing the next evolution of horizontal directional drills, and hands-on equipment demonstrations of a variety of Ditch Witch products, including drills, trenchers, compact equipment, vacuum excavators, parts, as well as HammerHead piercing tools and Subsite Electronics technology. The event concluded with a gala reception and dinner.
Project EverGreen Announces New Focus and New Mission
Project EverGreen’s board of directors have announced a new mission statement: “Bringing people together to make a difference in how our yards, parks and communities create a greener, cooler, healthier earth.” The organization has taken on a bigger role to connect the industry with consumers to promote and share the benefits of green spaces. “People want to make a difference,” Cindy Code, Project EverGreen’s executive director says. “And we, as landscapers, are making a difference in green spaces every day.”
San Diego Pays Homeowners to Take Out Lawns
The San Diego County Water Authority recently announced it has $500,000 available from grants awarded by the state Department of Water Resources to incentivize homeowners to replace their lawns with “more efficient” landscaping. The agency is expecting another grant of $600,000. Qualified applicants can receive up to $1.75 per square foot toward eligible project costs for upgrading 500 to 3,000 square feet of existing turf areas, according to the Water Authority. The incentive program is a partnership of the Water Authority, Association of Compost Producers, the California-American Water Co., the city of San Diego, the county of San Diego and the Surfrider Foundation.
EPA Worker Protection Standard Changes Take Effect Jan. 2, 2017
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has made a significant number of changes to the Worker Protection Standard (WPS) that were put into effect in 1992. The new changes require growers of agricultural crops, including greenhouses and nurseries, to be compliant starting Jan. 2, 2017. The Pesticide Educational Resources Collaborative has some excellent written materials to help you comply with the changes, including checklists to be sure you have covered all the changes, an employee training video for worker training and the “How to Comply With the 2015 Revised Worker Protection Standard For Agricultural Pesticides” manual. This updated manual supersedes the 2005 version.
Bayer Opens 2016 Fall Solutions Early Order Program
Environmental Science, a business unit of the Crop Science division of Bayer, is launching the 2016 Bayer Fall Solutions Program, offering early order incentives for lawn and landscape professionals in the coming year. Fall Solutions extends through December 9, 2016. The Warm Season Herbicide PAK offers percent savings when compared to individual product components and provides a combination of pre- and post-emergence herbicide options to manage a broad spectrum of difficult to control weeds. Industry professionals must be a member of My Bayer Rewards to participate in Fall Solutions.
Rayco Announces New Planar Tooth for Predator Mulcher
Rayco’s 2-bolt mulcher teeth are 2-sided, to provide twice the useful life of competitive teeth. The new planar teeth can be used on the entire rotor, or mixed in with Rayco’s carbide-tipped, Beaver tooth. The new planar teeth are made of high strength steel, and designed to quickly and cleanly slice through wood and vegetation. The result is a finely mulched product in one pass, reducing the need for back-dragging.
Project EverGreen Renovates New Jersey and Oregon Fields
As part of Project EverGreen’s Healthy Turf. Healthy Kids. initiative, they worked to donate a professional landscaping renovation to restore and improve the weather-damaged turf fields of the Hazlet, New Jersey Youth Athletic League. With the assistance of the Performance Nutrition division of Hazlet-based LidoChem, Inc., and Bridgewater, N.J.-based Natural Green Lawn Care, and community members, a work party will reshape, fertilize and seed the field to create a safe, greenspace for young athletes to play. The donations of their expertise, materials and services totals over $20,000 in value. The 100,000 sq. ft. project included aeration, reseeding, and topsoil applications to build up the unsafe runoff low spots to spec, and applications of organic soil amendments and fertilizers.
In Ashland, Oregon, Project EverGreen worked to revive the athletic and recreation fields at Walker Elementary School. The project covered more than 139,000 sq. ft. of turf and started with cleaning up debris from the playing surface. This was followed by weed removal and application of weed control products, soil aeration by volunteers from the Southern Oregon Landscape Association, and overseeding with more than 2,000 lbs. of drought tolerant seed and top-dressing donated by the Turfgrass Water Conservation Alliance.
Morbark Appoints David Herr as New CEO
Morbark, a manufacturer of equipment used in forestry, recycling, tree care, landscaping, sawmill and biomass markets, has announced the appointment of David Herr as CEO. In addition to being an active member of the current Morbark board of directors, Herr boasts experience with both products and services companies. He replaces Dan Ruskin, who recently resigned due to health issues. Read more from Tree Services magazine. Morbark also recently hosted their 10th demo days event October 13-14 and welcomed about 250 customers, members of its authorized dealer network, and other guests from around the world. Demo day events included factory tours, networking opportunities, vendor booths, a chance to see the equipment up close and try out Morbark’s Boxer line of compact utility loaders.
Illinois Landscaper Wins Award at HNA 2016
Nature’s Perspective Landscaping, a full service landscape contractor serving the Chicago North Shore area, received a 2016 Hardscape North America Hardscape Project Award in the Clay Brick Residential category, for a private lakefront estate in the Lakeshore Historic District of Evanston. The project involved a shared clay paver driveway with insets, curbing, five-foot tall mortared brick entrance columns topped with lanterns and a round cast stone fountain with Valders stone surround walk. LED low voltage lighting was installed in the driveway and focal points of the grounds.
PBI-Gordon Appoints Dave Loecke as Market Development Manager
PBI-Gordon Corp., based in Kansas City, Missouri, named Dave Loecke as Market Development Manager, Turf and Ornamental Products. Loecke has served PBI-Gordon in a variety of roles, most recently as Herbicide Product Manager, during his 15 years of employment there. PBI-Gordon also announced the hiring Brett Rieck as Eastern Regional Sales Manager. Rieck is responsible for supervising the region’s eight territory sales representatives, who serve clients and vendors east of the Mississippi River. A native of Fletcher, Oklahoma, Rieck earned a bachelor’s degree from Cameron University, majoring in horticulture and minoring in chemistry.
Polaris Co-Founder David Johnson, 93, Dies
David Johnson, 93, who helped start Polaris in the early 1950s, has passed away in Roseau, Minnesota. Johnson and his two cousins, Edgar and Allan Hetteen, officially founded Polaris in 1954. Polaris produced a variety of products, including several agricultural products such as straw cutter attachments for combines. But Johnson and several co-workers who were avid outdoorsmen envisioned a vehicle – a snow machine – they could use in winter to reach their remote hunting shacks. In late 1955, Johnson and his cohorts created the first Polaris snowmobile, a machine that made its first run across a snowy Roseau field in January 1956. Polaris began producing snowmobiles and helped create the global market for the machines. Johnson was inducted into the Snowmobile Hall of Fame in 1999.
Cleary Bros. Names Oscar Romero to Account Management Team
Cleary Bros. appointed Oscar Romero to its account management team. Romero started as a wholesale distributor and really enjoyed the irrigation side of the industry. From there he fell in love with plants and now he’s in management. When Romero is not in the field, he’s playing salsa music and performing with his buddy’s band in Sausalito and San Francisco.
Landcare Appoints Chidester and Maple as Branch Managers
Lee Chidester becomes manager of the Portland South branch for Landcare, while Steven Maples will head up LandCare’s Seattle North branch. Chidester was recruited to LandCare when he was a senior at Utah State University in 1999. He has been in the Portland area for all 17 years he’s been with the organization. Maples joined the landscape industry in 2007 specializing in landscape construction and upgrades. He holds a state pesticide applicator license in Washington and joined LandCare in 2008.
Turface Athletics Hosts Field Day Educational Event At Marlins Park
Profile Products, manufacturer of Turface Athletics products for sports fields, is sponsoring a Turface Athletics Field Day educational event on Thursday, November 10 at Marlins Park in Miami, Florida. The free event, open to coaches, field maintenance professionals and volunteers working in public or private athletics and/or parks and recreation, will showcase the latest techniques and practices in field and turf management. Chad Mulholland, Grounds Director for the Miami Marlins, will help lead Turface Athletics Field Day at Marlins Park. The day’s agenda will include seminars on soil management, irrigation, fertilization, infield mixes, mound and plate maintenance/renovation, turf grass management and more.
IrriGreen Genius Irrigation System has been Tested by CIT
IrriGreen, Inc. announced that the IrriGreen Genius Irrigation System has been tested by the Center for Irrigation Technology (CIT). CIT is the leading independent laboratory specializing in scientific testing and objective evaluation of irrigation equipment. IrriGreen Genius multi-stream sprinklers water in the exact shape of the lawn. CIT tested IrriGreen with one Genius computerized smart head per irrigation zone against conventional systems with six to nine mechanical rotors or spray heads per zone. The IrriGreen Genius Irrigation System will be demonstrated at booth #1409 at the Irrigation Show & Education Conference, December 5-9, 2016 at the Las Vegas Convention Center.
Read last week’s industry news here: GIE+EXPO Kicks Off, Propane Mower Incentive Program Returns: This Week’s Industry News
How ironic that San Diego is offering home owners money to tear up their turf when a similar program in Los Angles has been a disaster for the homeowners, the environment and a total waste of money.