In case you missed it… Tidbits from the trade show floor

So you didn’t get to see everything on the show floor at the 2015 Golf Industry Show in San Antonio. You’re not alone. Nobody gets to see everything. Here’s a quick look at some things you might’ve missed. But it’s not everything. Not even Golfdom can see everything.

Winfield Branded Products Manager Aaron Johnson demonstrates the company’s new GeoTech tool to Golfdom’s Grant Gannon.

GeoTech from WinField. Superintendents at the GIS were able to stop by the Winfield Solutions booth for a demonstration mapping of their golf course using WinField’s new GeoTech satellite-based mapping system. According to WinField Branded Products Manager Aaron Johnson, this system, which has been used in agriculture for about five years, is a yearly subscription service and uses proprietary software to generate satellite images of a course, then collects and aggregates complete plant health information about the course.

Using the easy-to-understand maps, Johnson says that Winfield specialists can help superintendents save significant time and money by identifying management zones to maximize efficiency. He also notes that the system can help superintendents communicate with course owners and board members concerning problem areas on the course. “Say you cut down trees on the course,” Johnson says. “Board members usually don’t like that. But with this system you can visually show the improvement in the turf immediately and over time.”

WinField has products in a number of product categories, but Johnson notes that the company’s entry into the service niche is a long-term strategy driven by, among other things, what it sees as an inevitable drop in the amount of chemicals needed on golf courses and expected future government regulation.

More than 25 years of exhibiting at the Golf Industry Show has taught Humate President Brian Galbraith that sometimes even superintendents don’t realize the importance of microbial activity in soils.

Humate International Inc. More than 25 years of booth traffic at the Golf Industry Show has taught Humate President Brian Galbraith that even golf course superintendents don’t always realize the importance of microbial activity in soils. Soils have two basic needs, he says, including high-energy organic humate for microbes, and a diverse microbial population.

Galbraith told attendees who stopped by the booth that his company’s role is to provide products that let Mother Nature to her job more efficiently. These include high-energy humic and fulvic acids, eco-friendly granular and liquid nutrients, and a broad spectrum of microorganisms ad support materials. Galbraith says superintendents should be looking for a balanced, efficient soil environment, properly functioning plants with deeper and more massive root systems, and for ponds, clean water for the fish.

Look at it this way, he suggests: You need to create a forest in the soil while only growing one plant species on the surface. This saves money and provides a better golfing experience that’s better for the environment.

Redexim Regional Sales Manager Daryn Clark shows off the new Core Collector introduced at this year’s GIS.

Redexim North America. A lot of activity at the Redexim booth centered on the company’s new Core Collector, which was introduced at the show. Featuring hydrostatic drive, the collector will pick up 98 percent of cores and is “big enough to fit in the bed of a Cushman,” according to Redexim Executive Vice President Paul Hollis.

FMC. The talk of the show at FMC’s booth was the introduction of Disarm +T fungicide, according to Jay Young, FMC turf and ornamental marketing specialist.

Disarm+T combines two systemic active ingredients, fluoxastrobin and tebuconazole, for broad spectrum control, Young says, allowing for both preventative and curative protection. The product protects both the root and the leaf against a number of diseases, Young notes, including dollar spot, anthracnose, snow mold and multiple patch diseases. It also optimizes resistance management with dual modes of action.

Disarm+T joins Disarm 480SC and Disarm+C in the company’s fungicide arsenal.

The crew at the Amvac booth this year included (from left) John Boltin, Dean May, John Bruce and Rennie Kubik.

Amvac. DDVP in a can and the introduction of a new fungicide started people talking at the Amvac booth at GIS this year.

Nuvan is the product in the can, a directed spray aerosol that’s highly effective against bed bugs, cockroaches and other structural pests, according to Amvac’s John Boltin. Nuvan’s active ingredient is DDVP, commonly called dichlorvos. DDVP isn’t new, Boltin says, and in fact has been around for more than 50 years, and was introduced as a retail product in pest strips in the 1960s. What is new, though, is the aerosol product, which is not intended for retail sales.

Also getting tongues wagging was the “attack anthracnose from all angles” introduction of Autilus turf fungicide, which the company calls “the beginning and end of anthracnose control.” According to company materials, Penn State researchers in 2013 discovered activity by PCNB on Colletotrichum cereal, the fungus that causes anthracnose. This finding led to the first use of this common turf fungicide active ingredient in more than 30 years.

Boltin says that field trials of Autilus throughout the Northeast last year confirmed that the product controls anthracnose on annual bluegrass and/or creeping bentgrass putting greens.

That’s some of the news you may have missed on the show floor this year. If we don’t pay close attention, who knows what we might miss next year in San Diego.

Photos: Golfdom Staff