Geoponics Blog

Matt DiMase Superintendent of Spanish Wells Country Club in Bonita Springs, Fla. shares how Geoponics products have helped the golf course he manages through several challenges and a recent upgrade to winter rye grass.

According to Matt and the local daily newspaper, The NewsPress, members are seeing the differences too and are very pleased.

Can you tell me about Spanish Wells, the golf club, as well as the soil and turf conditions here?

Spanish Wells was built in 1979 by Gordan Lewis. It’s 27 holes. The latest 9 holes were built in the mid ‘90’s, so we have a wide variety with a 30-year old course and a 15 to 16 year-old course.

Our greens are Tift Dwarf, our fairways are 419 Bermuda Grass and our tees are 419 Bermuda Grass and our roughs are common.

This year we decided to overseed our tees, rough, fairways and collars with a three-way blend of Winter Rye Grass. We did that in mid-to late November.

Have you had some recent challenges?

Yes. We’ve had some recent challenges to say the least. Our soil conditions are not the best. We have some areas that are extremely sandy and then we have some areas that are high organic, completely compacted. We have black layer in areas. There are 170 acres of turf, give or take, and there is a wide variety of all types of challenges.

When did you discover Geoponics products?

I discovered Geoponics when Escalante came in and bought the club in March (2011). There was some product sitting on the shelf that I’d never seen or heard of. I looked at the label and called the number. The sales rep came out and explained the product and how it worked. It was Penterra, the wetting agent.

What made you decide to continue with Geoponics, since it was already here?

Yeah. It was already here. I had never used Geoponics products before. I had always used the big dogs’ products, if you will. I had nothing on the shelf except that product, so I said “let’s see how it does and how good it is.” I was surprised by the results, to say the least.

We were able to keep more moisture and save water at a time where water is very valuable—in the summer months. So I stayed with it. It never did me wrong and I saw some great results. I figured why switch.

What stood out compared to the other products you used as a superintendent at other courses?

I would say the value, results and the longevity between the applications. There were some wetting agents where I was going out every 10, 12 or 14 days. With the Penterra I was going out with 2 quarts an acre every three to four weeks. So I was getting better longevity and value out of it.

What other products have you used?

I used the HydraHawk, which I was spraying on the fairways as well as on some slopes on the golf course. The HydraHawk became like a religion for us. We went out every three weeks in the summer months, depending on some areas, maybe every two weeks. We were going out wall-to-wall chasing hot spots. We had a lot of hydrophobic areas. A lot of areas that water did not want to penetrate. We tried the Hydrahawk and I was very pleased with the results.

We used the Agriox on the greens mixed with the Penterra. I figured I was seeing good results with the first two I tried, so why not try another one.

I also used the Humawet and HydroGro during our overseed this summer. I only sprayed that on our tees. We then started our irrigation program. We weren’t closed during our overseed like some of the higher end clubs get to do. We were open the very next day, or that afternoon. I saw germination as quickly as three days after spraying the tees, which helped us get that seed established. It was able to take a beating, if you will, from the golfers. Right now our tee boxes look pretty good.

We were still in the low 90s and our night temperatures were a little off for us. I wasn’t expected it to germinate so quickly, so when I saw it, I was pretty pleased.

Did you save any money? Save any water?

I would say every superintendent for the most part, and especially in Florida, South Florida too, battles water, water usage and water management. One sure way to manage water is with wetting agents, Penterra, HydraHawk. There were 97 degree days where I would spray Penterra or HydraHawk in the morning, run my watering, and know I’d be fine throughout the day and could miss a day or two days of irrigating. Over a course that’s 170 acres, that’s saving 700,000 gallons of water a night. So, I would highly recommend other superintendents, depending on your soil and what you’re battling, whether clay, sandy loam, definitely give these wetting agents a try.

Which was the first Geoponics product you tried and what did you see from it?
The first thing I tried was the liquid fertilizer Carbotein (www.Carbotein.com). Everything I’ve put it on has turned out looking really, really great; leaves are glossy, the foliage is a nice deep green. The plants we treat with it just look robust and healthy. I know it kinda sounds funny, but the best best way to describe it is to say the plants look fake they look so good. It’s important to mention that with all the results you see from it, one thing you don’t get is excessive growth.

I’ve been running my own landscaping business professionally for 10 years, and I look at my job and my life the same way, I keep it simple. I can look at a plant and tell if it likes the food I’m giving it, and all the ones I’ve used Carbotein on have looked like they were having a blast! After seeing what it can do, I think of it as a vitamin shot with super steroids. It’s a great product, it’s not expensive at all, and I’m definitely going to keep buying it.

That’s fantastic to hear. Can you tell me some more about the results you’ve seen since you began using it?
Because we service a high-end clientele that tends to have lots of ornamentals, I’ve had a chance to see the product in action on a broad range of plants, and I can confidently say I have seen a drastic change for the better everywhere it’s been used. Keep in mind our flowers have always looked good, so the amount of improvement we’ve seen is absolutely amazing.

Pansies are a great example. I planted 42 flats at my house alone, and you know everybody on my road has pansies, but mine look amazing by comparison and absolutely dwarf theirs. Those things are just slam-loaded down with blooms, but not leggy at all they way they can be. Like I said before, it almost looks like someone has stuck a bunch of artificial plants in the ground they look so perfect. The Camellias I sprayed are nice and thick with lots of blooms as well. Same with the Lantanas, Dragonwing Begonias and Coleus we have treated.

As an experiment I did a root injection on a Crepe Myrtle after it had flowered, and it put out a second set of blooms. That just doesn’t happen, so you know the Carbotein (www.Carbotein.com) was really making that tree happy. I also started a new stand of fescue in the yard this year, and I’ve only used the Carbotein twice, and the grass is so thick it’s like carpet. The neighbors are shaking their heads and asking me to quit making them look bad.

WOW! Obviously the outwards effects are substantial, but what about upkeep, have you noticed any change in the care these plants require?
One thing I did noticed was that all summer long, even with long stretches of triple-digit temperatures, the beds I maintain just didn’t need to be watered as much I would have expected, and the only thing I’d done differently was use the Carbotein. I’m using less fertility now in general too because you don’t need to push a bloom buster if the plants are as full as the ones we’re growing.

Excellent. Speaking of water, I understand you have been using our soil penetrant (www.soilpenetrant.com) on lawns suffering from compaction issues. What have you seen? (See Video on Geoponics.TV)
I’ve used Penterra (www.Penterra.net) on a number of yards where the ground was hard as rock, and afterward there is a night and day difference, especially when it comes to being able to get a good plug when aerifying.

I have one non-irrigated yard that really was like a brick back in August (2011) when we had all the high temperatures. I coated it well at the high label rate of 2 quarts per acre, and then we got a good overnight rain the day before we ran the plugger. We couldn’t believe it, but the machine actually started to sink into the ground! There hadn’t been enough rain to cause that under any circumstances, let alone on a yard that compacted, so it had to have been the Penterra. I was just amazed. I had a hard time even explaining it to the homeowner because we were both shocked by what we were seeing.

Another customer had the opposite problem; drainage was just terrible in his yard. Plants were dying all over the property, and when we pulled them out the roots would be dripping with water even though it hadn’t rained. We tried Penterra and after 3 treatments, lo and behold, there are no more issues. The water is moving down through the earth now. If those treatments hadn’t worked the next step would have been to go in with heavy equipment and do a bunch of regrading and rebuilding of the beds, so a few dollars worth of chemical saved my customer literally thousands of dollars. And I was glad because I didn’t want them to tear up his yard and make a bunch more work for us.

Again, it was such a remarkable result that if I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes I never would have believed it. That product has given me a level of control over soil moisture (www.SoilSurfactant.com) that I didn’t think was possible, and I get the feeling that we’ve only scratched the surface of what it can do.

Are there any other products you would recommend to other landscapers?
When we spray a 3-way product that will yellow the fescue I go out with the Grizzly Foilar Iron (www.GrizzlyFoliars.com). It does a wonderful job of hiding that at a lower rate than what we had been using before, so that’s definitely worth a try if you want a quick green up.

The one product that I am most interested in at the moment is the ENDURANT (www.TurfPaint.net) Pine Straw Refresher. I’m doing a trial evaluation of that one now, and three months after spraying it the test bed looks like we laid it yesterday; after it rains it looks especially good. Originally I was thinking we’d treat old material that had lost its color since it would be a good way to save my customers a little money while buying some time so my guys could be doing other things than bringing in all new pine straw, but at the time I got my sample we didn’t have any places to try it. I’m glad we didn’t too, because now I’m thinking we’ll get a better end result by starting fresh.

Sounds good. You’ll have to be sure to let us know how that trial bed holds up compared to untreated ones. Is there anything else you’d like to say about your experiences working with Geoponics before we finish up?
Some products you use because they let you keep things looking the way you want them, they help you maintain a certain standard, but when you find one that helps you to make improvements while doing the same amount of work, or even less, then you’ve found yourself a winner.

Bottom line is, when you get the kind of results where homeowners can see the benefits with their own eyes, that keeps you customers. Actually, it gains you customers because they turn around and tell people about it. That’s been picking up for us since we started using the Geoponics stuff, and I know it’s going to keep happening more and more, so I plan on sticking with these products. I would absolutely recommend other business give them a try because I’ve been really impressed by what they’ve done for me.

Can you tell me a little about The Club at the Strand?

We are a 27-hole golf course (thestrandcc.com) that opened in North Naples, Fla. in 1998. We hosted the LPGA for three years. We have Greg Norman’s Bermudagrass wall-to-wall with FloraDwarf greens. Both of those turf grasses are very difficult to manage. In fact, I don’t think either one of them made the grade.

What is so challenging about the GN-1 and FloraDwarf grasses?

The GN-1 (GN standing for Greg Norman, the golfer who brought it to market) is a very aggressive grass and the FloraDwarf is a very week grass– it always stays on the edge. The GN-1 has actually encroached… I’ve lost more than 1/2 an acre of my greens’ size over the years.

The GN-1 also has a very unusual growth habit. It’s more of a low prostrate growth habit. That’s one of the reasons it encroaches into the greens so rapidly. A lot of grasses have a more upright growth habit whereas the GN-1 is very grainy where it will run across the surface more agressively than a lot of grasses. It’s a challenge keeping that playable for the members because we have basically older members, higher handicap and they like to scoop the ball. They don’t like to hit down on it and the GN-1 will really grab your club and twist it in your hands.

How did you first learn of Geoponics products?

A Geoponics (GeoponicsCorp.com) representative came in about three years ago and he wanted to do a surfactant (soilsurfactant.com) demonstration with his wetting agent, Penterra (Penterra.net). He told me to go out to my chemical room and pick my favorite surfactant that I use. I was really impressed. He came out with this little dropper. He had two cups with equal amounts of water and these little swatches of fabric. He put equal amounts of each surfactant–his and the one from my chemical room into each cup. The demonstration (Geoponics.TV) was amazing.

He put at least four or five drops of the surfactant I was using into one cup and just one drop of his Penterra into the other. The Penterra absorbed into his cotton patch immediatley– within a second it had dropped to the bottom of the cup, which was pretty impressive.

So, did you decide to try Penterra? How’d it work for you?

That sold me. I was injecting Penterra (Penterra.net) into my fertigation system for many, many months until the Geoponics representative finally convinced me I’d get much better results spraying it on top with my spray rigs. He was absolutlely right.

Most of my hot spots had already gone away, but once I did that… I have a lot of mounding out here and nematode issues where the grass is a little weak on top of some of the mounds. The spraying application of the Penterra made all these issues, everything go away. So for all the dry season, these areas that were typically on the edge, a little thin and weak, they basically filled in and got healthy.

So, did the demonstration and the results with Penterra encourage you to consider other Geoponics products?

Yes, definitely, and, the Geoponics representative has a great personality. He came in a lot and we kind of hit it off. So, from there I started using other products. I use the Grizzly (GrizzlyFoliars.com), including Kodiak, as well as Carbotein (Carbotein.com), HydraHawk (HydraHawk.com) and HydroGro (HydroGro.info). Just recently, the Geoponics representative introduced me to an organic fish fertilizer, FertaFlow (TheOrganicPlantFood.com), which I’ve been using.  I also use Agriox (Agriox.com).

What have you seen occur on your property with these other Geoponics products?

I just see nice color and overall plant health on the putting greens. The products I was using in the past gave similar results. These products are a better value for me overall.

Some use FertaFlow on the fairway. I’m still using it on my greens and I just started using it on some ornamental plants on the property and I’m hoping to see some improvement in flowering and overall plant health.

The Agriox (Agriox.com), the dissolved oxygen, I’ve seen the video (Geoponics.TV) where he actually meters the dissolved oxygen. That’s interesting to see because I think a lot of superintendents are very visual. There are a lot of products on the market that we kind of shy away from or are skeptical of because you dont’ see the results. When I put the Agriox down, the next day I see a phenomenal response in overall color, the plant looking healthier and that hangs on for several days. I do that in a monthly program. I’ve been using Agriox close to three years.

How is the service with Geoponics?

The representative is not overbearing. He always comes in with a smile on his face. He’s a great guy. If an order is placed, it’s delivered in a day or two.

Can we come back and look at the ornamental plants in the New Year to see how the Fertaflow is doing?

Sure, I can already tell it’s helping. We’ll see more in a couple of weeks.

Scott Davis, Superintendent

The Club at the Strand

Certified Golf Course Superintendent Billy Huskins of Highland Woods Golf and Country Club in Bonita Springs, Fla. shares tips on overcoming the challenges of growing in sandy soil.

Geoponics: Can you tell me about Highland Woods and the soil there?

CGCS Billy Huskins: Yes. The course was built in 1995. There is a very sandy pocket of soil in this region. It was originally just a forest—oak trees, palmettos, palms, etc. When they built the golf course, building the lakes to mound the earth up for the golf holes, it was straight sand. So our biggest challenge overall without a doubt is our soil type—straight sand.

Geoponics: What type of turf are you growing?

CGCS Billy Huskins: We have 419 Bermuda grass on the fairways and rough; we have Champion Bermuda grass greens and we’ve started to use Celebration Bermuda grass on some of our tees.

Geoponics: What are the challenges caused by sandy soil?

CGCS Billy Huskins: The biggest challenge is moisture holding capacity. You irrigate, but that water is not going to hold. We have to have a wetting agent product. We have nematode problems because of the sandy soil.

Geoponics: How did you first discover Geoponics products and did they help to address some of those challenges?

CGCS Billy Huskins: A representative of Geoponics came into the office a few years ago and started telling me about the products. He did a jar test in front of me and sent me to my chemical room to get the best wetting agent product that I had at that time. He compared his product, which was Penterra, to that product. At that point, I said ‘that’s intriguing and I want to test more of that product.’ At the time, we were in the worst drought on record. So, I had been testing and trying every product known, all types of combinations. I tried this and it was a happy medium for me with the price and the effects I get from the product. That was about 2008. I’ve been on the product ever since.

Geoponics: You mentioned that the wetting test is why you decided to try the Penterra?

CGCS Billy Huskins: Yes. That jar test and the representative’s ability to explain the product in depth to me. It wasn’t just “oh, I’ve got another wetting agent and try it.” He spent probably 30 minutes with me explaining how that product (Penterra) worked.

Geoponics: Have you tried other Geoponics products since then?

CGCS Billy Huskins: Yes. I’ve been using HydraHawk and HydroGro.

Geoponics: What made you try those?

CGCS Billy Huskins: We’re still in a draught situation here. We’re not currently under water restrictions, but nothing has changed with the soil type. Penterra has its mode of action and these products have their mode of action and I feel the HydraHawk in combination with the HydroGro is going to hold moisture longer like on a mound or a rough where as the Penterra is just pushing water through. I want something that’s going to hold water more still give some good penetration.

With regard to HydroGro —I’ve always been a believer of humic acid in these humate products because they’re natural products and I’ve always thought that the addition of that to a wetting agent is going to be beneficial to the plant.

I’m very happy with it. I’ve actually changed from using the other products to using this combination (of HydraHawk and HydroGro).

Geoponics: Why do you stay with Geoponics?

CGCS Billy Huskins: They (Geoponics products) seem to be at the forefront of what’s going on. I mean I’m buying their products. It’s endless how many other wetting agents are out there. Every salesman has 10 of them, but I’m using Geoponics and the reason why is I feel like they have the answers. The representative is easy to talk to. The products mix well and the price is where it needs to be.

We’ve been on the Penterra program for over three years now. Our stress areas are less than they’ve ever been.

We have 40,000 rounds of golf within a few months. All these members like to drive in the same patterns. They go on the fairway in the same spots and off the fairways in the same spots. This helps us to retain moisture in those areas and it helps with the stress.

Geoponics: Anything else you want to add that may be beneficial for other superintendents?

CGCS Billy Huskins:  Geoponics is one of the best or I wouldn’t be using them. The price, the knowledgeable sales staff. I mean you can’t know everything, as superintendents, we’re always learning. He (the sales representative) comes in and tells you about the product, what you can expect. I like to push things. I like to test and try things. He helps explain what things can be mixed.

It’s that knowledge, the price, the products are natural. Again, there are so many products out there. This is the best or I wouldn’t have picked it.

How were you first introduced to Geoponics?
It was 6 or 7 years ago when I was working as a superintendent at a big operation in Greensboro, NC (Grandover Resort & Golf) which had bought the Agriox product for its courses. Honestly, I didn’t know much about what it was meant to do at that point, not the way I do now, so my evaluation was entirely based on what I saw rather than what I was told. After putting it out a few times, the best way I can describe it would be to say that the turf responded as though it had been refurbished, like fresh life had been breathed into it.

That is a perfect way to think about it considering it’s a soil oxygenator, right?
Exactly. These last few years I’ve gained a much more complete understanding of what it does, how it slowly releases oxygen into soil moisture. I can tell you when growing bentgrass in an extreme environment with high temperatures and humidity like we have here (Florence, SC) that can make all the difference.

Obviously you don’t want to find yourself in a situation where you start losing turf, because it is very difficult under stressful summer conditions to get it back, so if used as a preventative measure Agriox can really be a high priority tool in your shed. It has become that for me; I go out with monthly maintenance applications all season long, and I feel it is well worth every penny.

When you spray Agriox, which wetting agent do you use and why?  (www.SoilSurfactant.com)
We always use it with some combination of the Geoponics products. Conditions are constantly changing out on the course, so you have to be quick to adapt and modify what you are doing. For me that means going out regularly and tweaking the mix ratio between the two surfactants depending on whether we want to move excess water through with Penterra (Penterra.net) or hold more moisture up in the root zone with Humawet (Humawet.com).

One area where that particular product has given me an edge is with sod installations; it’s great for keeping the roots from drying out before they’ve had a chance to take hold. With budgets the way they’ve been the last few years, I appreciate their low rates and cost per acre as well.

Offering value is what we’ve set out to do as a company, so I’m glad to hear that. Cost has always been a big concern, but it seems like superintendents are more price conscious than ever. Have your purchasing decisions changed?
When you have your routine, you get kinda set in your ways and settle into a comfort zone. I’m probably as guilty of it as anyone, but these days you have to be careful with every dollar; you have no choice. No one has more money to spend than they did the last year, so you have to look for ways to save.

We use a lot of different brands, there are some products I am always going to use, but it has been well worth my time to have sat down with my Geoponics rep to learn about the line. I’ve ended up using a number of the Grizzly foliars (www.GrizzlyFoliars.com) as a result and have seen nice steady growth from them.

Which formulas have you used, and would you say you had a favorite?
The Carbotein (www.Carbotein.com) has definitely become my favorite. It is so inexpensive that I put it in almost every tank, and I’ve applied it to almost everything around the course. It’s definitely one of the most effective fertilizers I have in my arsenal.

We’ve been told by many users that combining it with non-organic macro-fertilizers causes both products to perform better than they do on their own…
It mixes really well, and having used it with other foliars so often, I would say that I’ve noticed that myself.

Our customers commonly single Carbotein out among the nutritionals. Aside from its affordability, what do you think makes it so special?
My greens are pretty small, so my edges take a beating. I’ve steadily increased Carbotein (Carbotein.com) applications there and in other areas where we get the most damage, like walk-ons and where the mowing patterns are constrained, and over the years the turf just keeps getting better and better, more full and wear resistant. I believe it’s all the plant extracts and amino acids helping the plant with photosynthesis that sets it apart from everything else. I’ve seen it do some amazing things on flowers too.

We get told that about the flowers a lot. In fact, we often end up bringing a case for the superintendent and one for their horticulturalist once it gets tried out on the ornamentals around a course. Thank you so much for talking with us today. If a fellow superintendent wanted to discuss your experiences with you directly, would that be alright?

Sure, I’d be happy to talk with anyone about the company. As I said earlier, the time it takes to sit down and learn about Geoponics is time well spent since the products are absolutely worth the money.

Jeremiah Pierce, Superintendent
Florence Country Club