Two old superintendent friends, Mr. Name Brand and Mr. Generic, were talking on a rainy day in early April. While discussing the usual topics of budget cuts, finding good help and March Madness, they stumbled on the subject of fungicide programs.
Name Brand: It’s almost time to make the first spray of the year. What are you planning on using this time around?
Generic: Oh, what’s the name of it? It’s that new product that my salesman booked me for last September. It’s one of those that used to be called something else. He says it’s the same as what he used to sell me.
NB: New product? That isn’t a new product. It’s an old product in a new box. You said you would never use any of those!
G: Yeah, I know; but when my salesman switched companies last year, he convinced me to try it. He says it’s the same as the real thing and will work just as well. We were just talking about how my budget has been cut for this year, so I decided to try it. What are you going to use?
NB: I’m sticking with what I’ve been using for years. I just have a real comfort level with those products and the company that makes them. Plus, I got a bunch of bonus points when I ordered them during football season.
G: Yeah, I miss getting my trip to the National paid for with those points, but the club started watching that stuff pretty close last year. When it came right down to it, I was able to pay for my trip to Atlanta with the money I saved on my chemical budget by ordering that Thalonil or what ever it’s called. Other than a comfort level and bonus points, what are your reasons for sticking with the branded products?
NB: Well, I like supporting the companies that are doing the research and bringing new products to the market.
G: New products? What new products have we seen during the past few years? It seems to me that all they’re doing is mixing old products together and putting a new name on them.
NB: Yeah, I know; but they have some in the pipeline that will be out in a few years. Besides, all the post-patent companies do is pick up on all the leftovers, repackage them and try to pass them off as the same thing. I also like the fact that the major manufacturers really stand behind their products, and that helps me feel good about my applications if something should go wrong.
G: That is a good point, but I’ve been working with this active ingredient for years, and if it’s really the same thing, then I have no questions about how to apply it and what kind of results to expect.
NB: I don’t know what the right way to go is. I can see your points about trusting your salesman and the price factor, but I just can’t bring myself to try a different product on my golf course and take a chance that it won’t perform the way I want it to. Maybe one of these days I’ll do a trial on my nursery green.
G: That’s the way I started out. I did a test on my tees last year, and now I am using these products on everything but my greens.
NB: Wait a minute! You mean to tell me that you “trust” these products so much that you don’t use them on the most critical area of your course?
G: Yeah, I guess I really understand your comfort level argument. Let me ask you this: When you go to the pharmacy, do you only accept the name brand drugs at a higher price?
NB: No. I guess I just go with whatever the pharmacist recommends … and what the insurance company will cover. I know where you’re going with this. I will use generics in my body, but not on my course and you will use them on your course, just not the greens.
G: You know what? This is really making my head hurt, and it’s too early in the season for headaches. It is raining, so why don’t we head down to the chicken wing place and watch the Masters to find out what kind of conditions our members will be expecting this season.
NB: Great idea. Except the wing place is where all of the sales guys will be, and this conversation will continue. Let’s go to my maintenance building and watch it on the 48 inch plasma I got with my bonus points last year.
G: Now my head really hurts.
Blaine Pinkerton is a technical representative for Green Velvet Sod Farms in Dayton, Ohio. He can be reached at blaine@greenvelvet.com.