Spent Sunday through Wednesday at FarmLinks with Michael Kropp, some UAP DSRs and their superintendents. Even though we had some rough weather the last day, we had a very successful trip. On Wednesday afternoon at the airport, many in the group commented to Michael and I that even with high expectations, this trip exceeded their expectations. 36 holes of golf for some and catching a few “hog size” bass and crappie probably helped their attitudes.

When discussing resistance management, there is a notion among turf pros that the repeated use of a pesticide causes the pest to mutate and become resistant to the pesticide being applied.

Resistance is not the result of pests mutating and becoming “resistant” from exposure to a particular pesticide. Real resistance means that a small part of the pest population has an inherited trait that makes it unaffected by a specific chemical mode of action. Resistant strains of a pest occur naturally at a very low frequency. As this resistant population reproduces and passes these inheritable traits from one generation to the next, the pesticide will no longer provide control as the resistant, or “survivor”, population becomes the majority. Repeated fungicide use increases the frequency of resistant individuals as they reproduce. The genetically strong individuals survive.

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Still have 1-2 ft of snow on the ground in Northern Michigan, Northern Pennsylvania, & the snow belt east side of Cleveland. Central Ohio received 13-15 inches of snow and the Cincinnati & Northern Kentucky area received in excess of 20 inches. Recently, we have experienced warmer temps enough to melt most of the snow to make way for some significant rainfall with flooding. In between all of this, we had a 48-hour period of a severe ice storm. Lots of trees and power lines were down, no shortage of firewood. We have had all weather extremes in recent weeks.

The President of the MiGCSA (Michigan State Wide GCSA) invited me to be the Industry Partner Representative for 2008. This is an honor to be selected, we will meet on a quarterly basis. This will give BASF the opportunity to have even better relation with the MiGCSA Board of Directors.

I received Insignia yesterday for demos I plan to accomplish this half of the season. I will be focusing on demonstrating the value of Insignia as a pre-aerification fungicide. Insignia controls most of the diseases present at spring renovation time. Courses spend a great deal of time and resources to accomplish these renovations. Insignia applications and disease control timed just before or just after aerification are key to a successful preventative program for anthracnose, summer patch, take-all patch and pythium root dysfunction.

I attended the USGA Greens Section Training course on Wednesday. There were no surprises here and the talk about disease last year was that superintendents skipped applications by manipulating their water usage. The dry, cool season saved substantial budget money earmarked for fungicides.
Next week will be busy with the Mid Atlantic GCSAA spring session at the University of Maryland.

We all do quite a few talks, seminars and other speaking engagements. I want to provide a cautionary tale for those folks seeking an ice-breaker to start a talk. Last week I had the opportunity to present a BASF presentation to the Long Island New York John Deere/Lesco meeting with approximately 350 LCO attendees. I was to speak just before lunch, so the natives were a little hungry and restless. To get to know my audience a little better, I asked them to raise their hand where appropriate….Who here works in the golf industry? (no problems). Who here works in the Lawn Care Industry? (no problems) ….Who here is a fan of the 2007 World Champion Red Sox? Napkins were rolled up and thrown at me, insults were hurled across the room and some folks even swore at me!! Red Sox Nation runs deep!

Thanks to Kyle Miller for helping me with another John Deere Lesco meeting in Taunton, MA. Again, well attended with over 350 LCO and related grass cutters. A segment of Kyle’s presentation discussed incorporating fungicide sprays into an LCO’s business plan. This is a stretch for most of these guys, but to separate oneself in a competitive environment such as lawn care, these companies need to think outside the “box”. Cool stuff. Thanks, Kyle.

This week was the New England Regional Turf Conference. I believe this is one of the Top 2 or 3 regional shows in the country! The education sessions are timely and appropriate, while the trade show floor bustles with activity on Tues and Wed. Toni Bucci arrived on Wed. and we attended a lunch set up by several golf course superintendents and the TurfLinks group. Then off to dinner with the Harrells sales reps. BASF’s development of new products and innovative formulations matches very well with our distributors’ business models. This was the most successful BASF / New England shows that I have participated in. Thanks again to Toni, Rich Kalik and Tom Hill for their support and assistance.

The snow has cleared with last weeks rains. Many golf courses are reporting a considerable amount of pink snow mold on fairways. Most sprayed areas are clean. No real reports of dead turf and/or gray snow mold. Temps have moderated and we are expecting 2-4 inches of rain this week, even into ski country. That will raise the flood warnings for the lower valleys.

Major trade shows are over, the next few weeks will be lots of travel and several golf course super talks. All will be in Red Sox Nation!