Greening up with bionutrition

Getting grass to start moving this year hasn’t been difficult for superintendents John Rowland at the Country Club of Mount Pleasant in Mt. Pleasant, Texas, and Rick Holandia at Oakmont Country Club in Glendale, Calif. But they get a healthier start when they use bionutrients on their turfgrass, they say.

“I trust the products and have had good experience with them,” says Rowland.

He administers monthly applications and sees it as a plus “because you are always feeding the soil and the plant.”

“I see major benefits using bionutrition to help sustain a healthier soil chemistry,” he says. “When you can build up a healthy soil you gain a lot of benefits, such as green-up coming out of the winter.”

The practice is not cost- or time-consuming, Rowland says – and a practice that should be incorporated in a normal maintenance program with the benefits surpassing the cost of product and time treating the turf. He says he knows more and more superintendents who are using bionutrition in their daily programs.

Rowland says one concern when using bionutrient products is the potential for groundwater contamination, especially after applications near water.

“As with any other type of application, we need to use caution when applying, avoid applying during hot temperatures during the day, and try to apply them earlier in the cool time of the day,” he says.

This is the second year Hollandia has used bionutrients in his greens program.

“They seem to be a benefit no matter when you use bionutrients,” he says. “We have noticed a faster perk-up this year than last, partly because of the milder winter and partly because the added bionutrients we applied earlier this spring. I believe it has boosted health earlier than last year.

He says he gets the best benefits using bionutrients have been derived in the early spring, “when everything is starting to ramp up. The added microbe activity seems to get our greens in better condition earlier in the year. It also helps get ahead in preparation for the hotter, drier months of the summer.”

Holandia uses bionutrition as an add-in to his bi-weekly spray tank treatments, therefore adding no time to his schedule. He also has heard of more superintendents using some form of bionutrients in their programs and “seen many more articles related to the subject.”

He says using caution and monitoring effectiveness are keys to any product application.
“When we started out using the first few products it was monitored just for the sake of knowing if it would deliver what we wanted,” he says. “Since we found one product we liked, it shows itself with less water use and healthier root structures when we aerify.”