The Vendors’ Vantage Point

Turf management products and safety are always on the vendors mind.

Chemical and fertilizer vendors are well aware of their role in ensuring that superintendents have eco-friendly and cost-effective products at their disposal.

“We’re coming up with safer, less-volatile formulations for turf grass,” says a technical manager for a leading supplier of golf course turf management products. “The products have fewer active ingredients to do the same job that products did 10 years ago.”

Safer packaging allows spray technicians to avoid skin contact with products that go straight from the packaging to spray tanks. GPS systems turn off spray nozzles on areas that already have been treated. Plants that require fewer pesticides are being developed. All products must meet Environmental Protection Agency standards.

Even with these advances, however, open communication between superintendents and manufacturers remains a key to effective usage.

If a superintendent is having a problem controlling a certain disease, for example, a plan of attack should be developed with the vendor. The problem simply could be that the wrong nozzle was attached to a sprayer, the technical manager says.

“[Superintendents] need to tell us what their needs are. We have open ears,” he says.

Tags: avoid skin contact Chemical and fertilizer vendors Chemical vendors eco-friendly products Environmental Protection Agency standards fertilizer vendors fewer pesticides