Bayer’s Environmental Science, FMC, Syngenta Busy at Show

Source: www.TurfMagazine.com

LOUISVILLE, KY. – Bayer’s Peter Farno, U.S. Lawn & Landscape Business Manager, and Jeff Michel, Herbicide Product Manager, shared an in-depth look at the new Specticle plus Fertilizer product from Bayer Environmental Science at the Turf & Ornamental Communicators Breakfast, Friday, Oct. 25.

The herbicide provides warm-season turf managers up to 8 months of residual control at low use rates.

"Specticle plus Fertilizer is an example of delivering innovation to meet the needs of green industry professionals and help them to be more efficient," said Michel, shown right. "It allows turf managers to achieve healthy, weed-free turf while simplifying operations, which translates to time and cost savings that help grow their bottom lines."

Specticle plus fertilizer is available in two different concentrations and a  variety of fertilizer blends to provide for increased flexibility that meets the needs of warm-season turf professionals, according to the company.

Specticle is a unique class of chemistry that offers an environmentally responsible solution and helps address weed resistance. Specticle plus Fertilizer delivers extended residual pre-emergent control of more than 75 broadleaf and grassy weeds, including annual bluegrass, goosegrass, crabgrass and annual sedge, according to the company.

FMC’s Triple Crown ready for launch

FMC took advantage of the GIE+EXPO to announce the launch of Triple Crown insecticide in December. Considering it was Louisville, home of the Kentucky Derby, it was an apt name for a new product.

Triple Crown combines three active ingredients (a.i.’s): bifenthrin, zeta-cypermethrin and imidacloprid. It controls more than 30 pests, including ants, fire ants, masked chafer grubs, European chafer grubs, chinch bugs, annual bluegrass weevils, ticks, mites and billbugs.

"It’s a very broad-spectrum label," said Catherine Bernard, insecticides brand marketing manager for FMC Agricultural Solutions. "Combining three a.i.’s also takes out the tank mixing."

Bernard said zeta-cypermethrin offers quick control, and bifenthrin offers long residual.

Why did FMC pick these three a.i.’s for Triple Crown?

"We wanted to offer our customers an above- and a below-ground product," Bernard said. "We also wanted to make sure we had a.i.’s in it to work against any possible resistance issues."

Sunrise at Churchill Downs with Syngenta

A group of Syngenta customers must have felt like Southern breakfast, an informative behind-the-they hit the trifecta after getting a tasty traditional scenes tour of Churchill Downs and a tour of the facility’s Derby Museum, all complements of the Greensboro, N.C.-based chemical manufacturer, on Thursday morning during the Green Industry Show. The event was a welcome respite from the grind of the trade show.

There was plenty to learn, too, especially in regard to maintaining the famed racetrack, home of the Kentucky Derby. Tour guide Gene Logan told tour goers that Churchill Downs employs its own superintendent who oversees the facility’s dirt and grass tracks.

Logan, who has worked at Churchill Downs since 1962, said the dirt track is about 3.5 inches deep and composed of 75 percent sand, 23 percent silt and 2 percent clay.

"That makes for a surface that doesn’t bottle up and stick to horses’ feet when it gets wet," Logan explained.

Below the dirt is 42 inches of roadbed equipped with state-of-the-art drainage. The track’s construction is a reason it’s regarded as one of the world’s best venues.

"It’s why horsemen love to train here," Logan said.

After the tour, invitees toured the Derby Museum. Then it was back to the trade show . but the grind didn’t seem so bad.