Turfgrass manager of Bonita Bay West golf course community in Bonita Springs, Florida offers a brief interview with Geoponics on enhancing turfgrass color and using
Endurant TE as a spray
indicator dye on Bermuda grass.
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Endurant TE boosts the natural green grass color, adds color to weak areas and can work well as a spray indicator dye to provide visual assurance of even coverage of the application of other products, such as foliars.[/caption]
Turfgrass color enhancement on multiple golf courses in Southwest Florida
Debbie Gonzales is the IPM and turfgrass manager at Bonita Bay Club West in Bonita Springs.
IPM, integrated pest management, includes mitigating or eliminating health or economic damage caused by pests. Gonzales' role also includes caring for the aesthetics and health of the turfgrass at Bonita Bay West.
Bonita Bay West is a sweeping community with three Arthur Hills designed golf courses that have bermuda grass greens and fairways. There are also two Tom Fazio courses in nearby north Naples that do not include a residential community but instead are on more than 1,000 acres of preserved cypress wetlands. The 3 golf courses within the Bonita Bay West community include
Marsh,
Creekside and
Bay Island.
We asked Gonzales a bit about turf color enhancement in a very brief interview:
Geoponics: What
colorants do you use?
Gonzales:
We use Endurant TE, the pigment.
Geoponics: What rate do you use?
Gonzales:
We use Endurant TE application rate of 20 ounces per acre.
Geoponics: You manage a lot of property. Where do you apply the Endurant TE?
Gonzales:
We apply Endurant TE on the tees, fairways and approaches of the golf courses.
Geoponics: When do you apply Endurant TE?
Gonzales:
We especially use Endurant TE in the winter to help with some color loss we experience when it gets colder. We're still applying it now, in late May though too, especially as an indicator. We'll be spraying in the early morning about 6 a.m., the Bay Island golf course now.
Geoponics? What do you use Endurant TE for and what are some of the benefits you experience from using the pigment?
Gonzales:
First, we can see while we're spraying. Endurant TE is great as an indicator dye or spray indicator with the added longevity of the colorant. We use it as a spray indicator dye with fertilizer, fungicides, growth regulators like Primo, iron and nitrates too. We use it to color the weak areas or patches.
It enhances the color of the turf, especially during our winters when it's kind of like dormant turf in that we do lose some color. Endurant TE gives it a more natural look than other indicators and a healthy look throughout the year. Also, in those winter months, the leaf blade holds onto just a little more heat in those colder times to help with earlier greenup when the weather warms back up. We don't really go dormant this far south, but we do go off color.
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