Q&A WITH Chris Gray

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Maximizing your labor in today’s difficult workforce environment means you have to capitalize on every opportunity to multi-task wherever available. Accomplishing two tasks with one action saves valuable time and money. That’s where the Country Club MD product line comes in. All Country Club MD products provide, in one single application, the needed nutrients for your turf to performance at its best as well as delivers stress-buffering biostimulants to help your plant defend itself against all the inevitable environmental stress that come with every growing season.

1 How can Country Club MD products save time and money in a golf course operation?

A: Country Club MD fertilizers are not like traditional NPK fertilizers. We developed it not only to provide the best nutrients and micronutrients available, but also to deliver powerful stress-buffering biostimulants, infused into each particle, that helps the turf plant activate its natural defenses against environmental stresses like heat, drought and disease pathogens. Rather than needing to make separate applications for nutrition and biostimulants, Country Club MD efficiently delivers both benefits in a single granular application. Fewer applications needed to accomplish multiple tasks at one time save time and money.

2 What are the “stress-buffering biostimulants” that are infused in each particle?

A: Humic acid and sea plant kelp meal. Both biostimulants are “elicitors” which, when taken up by the plant, activate natural chemical defenses by initiating defense-related enzymes. You can think of them as a “flu shot” for the turf. And much like a flu shot, these biostimulants need to be activated before the onset of stressful conditions. The humic acid is infused at 1.5% and the sea plant kelp meal is infused at 1%.

3 How did you determine the right amount of biostimulants to be included to achieve the optimum response for golf course turf?

A: We did quite a lot of research to determine that these specific amounts would be the most effective. Rutgers University performed a study at varying levels of both biostimulants to see if more of either one would have a beneficial impact on the performance and aesthetics of the turf. The 1.5% of humic acid and 1% of sea plant kelp meal outperformed treatments that had 2X and 4X these amounts. In fact, this research strongly suggested that higher application rates actually decreased overall performance of the turf.

4 What’s the real world benefit of using Country Club MD products?

A: That’s the real question isn’t it? The real world impact for superintendents are that when utilized, Country Club MD products will allow the turf to continue to maintain high quality performance longer once the stressful environmental begin and allow the turf to recover and regain its high quality performance quicker once the environmental stress has subsided. After years on being used by superintendents across the country and internationally, these benefit has been documented to provide 2 additional weeks on both sides of the stressful growing conditions. So during the hottest, driest 3 month period of the growing season, Country Club MD is providing one full month of extended performance for the turf.

5 What areas of the course are best suited for Country Club MD products?

A: Country Club MD products come in two different particles sizes, SGN 80 for putting green applications and SGN 125 for tees and fairways. Since the stress-buffering biostimulants are equally effective across all species of turf, it’s very well suited for both cool-season and warm-season climates.