Iowa courses in recovery after floods
When you think of states that are prone to severe flooding, Iowa is not one of the first that comes to mind. But after witnessing the havoc Mother Nature wreaked on the majority of the state last month, onlookers are changing their tune.

My dad had to cut down several trees on our property that were damaged in the storms.

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New course built on farmland may face weed pressure
We are hosting an association meeting in September that includes a tour of our Dinuba Research Facility in the morning, and then an afternoon of golf at a recently completed Ridge Creek Golf Club. This new golf course was built on farmland. Because of this, Superintendent Mark Livingston is dealing with extensive weed pressure on fairways, roughs and out of play areas. The biggest problems at this time are goosegrass, yellow nutsedge, puncturevine, Mexican Sprangletop and many others that once inhabited the fields. Tower herbicide and FreeHand herbicide, when registered will help Mark get a good
handle of these tough weeds.

Landscape mulch benefits from Pendulum AquaCap herbicide application
Landscape managers in California and across the country can apply Pendulum AquaCap herbicide over the top of mulched areas for preemergent control of a wide variety of broadleaf and grassy weeds. Generally, after a couple years, most mulched areas start to get weed breakthrough. Because of its unique microencapsulated formulation, Pendulum AquaCap easily moves through the mulch barrier down to the soil to form an effective control zone.

LA may see more grass and weeds on streets as gas prices affect DOT maintenance budgets
I just read today in the LA Times that due to the rising gasoline prices, California may suffer a big reduction in its federal highway construction and repair funds. Because people are purchasing less gasoline, there are fewer tax dollars going to this fund which supports 30 percent of many state projects. This is having an impact on weed control budgets for many state DOTs.

The Big Easy is Back – See for Yourself
Believe it or not, we have already started planning for the 2009 Golf Industry Show (www.golfindustryshow.com) and as part of the planning, my team and I visited New Orleans at the end of June to check out some potential venues for meetings and our annual BASF Distributor Appreciation event.

Kellie Mathas of USA Hosts New Orleans took us around to all the venues and sites we were interested in seeing. Prior to the trip, I was not quite sure what to expect given the hard road NOLA has had after Hurricane Katrina. I was in New Orleans in September of 2007 and it still seemed to be in recovery mode. And, as you may remember, GIS was supposed to take place in NOLA in 2006, but that show moved to Atlanta following the hurricane.

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Weather gives turf managers a disease pressure break in Georgia
Last week the weather in the Southeast appeared to be gentle enough to provide a little “breather” for turf managers. Specifically, following several hot and humid days, the night time temps dipped into to mid to low 60s allowing Bentgrass to catch a little break.

According to Weather Underground, the record low temp in Athens for July 18th was recorded in 1967. The temp then was 60 degrees. Last night in Athens the temps dipped to 63 degrees, so we’re getting some nice relief for turf in this area. I’ve seen Bentgrass greens this summer looking as good as I can ever remember. Guys are really having a nice stretch this summer, conditions wise. Who knows what next week might produce.

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2008 a low pest pressure turf maintenance season in North East
The earlier hot weather conditions have faded to great grass growing weather. The hot temperatures have been short lived. Many turf maintenance professionals are using fungicides but spray intervals are not being shortened to accommodate high disease pressure. At the Central Penn GCSA meeting yesterday there was a general feeling that 2008 has been a moderately easy turf maintenance season so far.

Customers see success with Insignia and Trinity fungicides
I’ve received positive feedback from many of my customers. One golf course superintendent called to say that he used his first ever Insignia fungicide fairway spray on the Fourth of July weekend and loves it!

A distributor called to say Insignia plus a phite performed outstandingly. He has been working Insignia + phites and has gained the seal of “quality disease control” approval from many happy customers.

Another golf course superintendent said he tried Trinity fungicide at 1oz and, “LOVES Trinity”.

In general, BASF is receiving very positive feedback from distributors who are selling our pest control products for Take-all patch, Summer patch and Anthracnose turf diseases.