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. 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, dragon wings 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 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 on lawns suffering from compaction issues. What have you seen?
I’ve used Penterra 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 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 Iron. 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 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.
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This interview was conducted by telephone in December of 2011. Geoponics Earth Chemistries would like to thank the owner and operator of Grass Catcher, Inc. for his willingness to discuss his experiences with fellow landscape professionals. Mr. Pete Denny may be contacted through his work email: grasscatcher@att.net
January 9th, 2012
We applied the ENDURANT Turf Colorant for the first time a few weeks ago, and when I saw it out on the course my thought was, “I hope the color stays like this.” Well, I’m glad to say the color is holding, and I am really, really happy about that. We’ve had nothing but compliments; most people just say the greens look great because they can’t even tell they’ve been painted. In fact, we just hosted the Eastern NCTGA‘s final golf outing of the year here, as you can imagine you aren’t going to find a group that knows grass any better, and no one had anything but positive things to say about the color.
This is by far the best experience we’ve had in the 3 years we’ve been doing this. Partly that’s because we are getting more skilled at the application, but another big part of it was how easily and evenly the material went down, with absolutely no streaking or striping. And the greens are playing fast as well, so the golfers are just as pleased about the playability as we are with the appearance. I truly believe this product will be big in the area soon, and the service has been top-notch as well. If any other superintendents would like to speak to me about the product, I’m happy to make a recommendation or answer any questions.
Drew Ramsey, Superintendent
Cutter Creek Golf Club
mobile 252-717-6927
drew@cuttercreek.com
December 28th, 2011
How were you first introduced to Geoponics Earth Chemistries?
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?
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 or hold more moisture up in the root zone with Humawet.
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 as a result and have seen nice steady growth from them.
Which formulas have you used, and would you say you had a favorite?
I’ve used the Charge minors package, Nitron 30-0-0, and both Northern and Terrain. So far I’ve felt that the quality of all of them is just as good as any of the other more expensive premium liquid fertilizers, but the Carbotein 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 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. Are there any other products you use regularly you’d like to mention before we finish up?
Actually, yes. We switched from Green Toes to Blue Cobra for a marker dye and have found that on top of being a lot more affordable it is easier to handle and clean up.
As with many of our products, that one is very concentrated, so a little goes a very long way. I’m glad it has been a worthwhile change for you. 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
fccsuper@bellsouth.net
843-662-5309
December 16th, 2011
So, how did you first learn of Geoponics Earth Chemistries?
I was working as an assistant at a course in Myrtle Beach that was trialing Agriox. A number of superintendents around the area were trying out the new product which you kept hearing was “liquid aerification.” I was intrigued by the concept and was very interested to see what effect it would have, especially if it could give stressed out bentgrass any help during the heat of summer. I’m a big believer that you build a healthy plant from the bottom up, so a company that was talking about the value of increasing soil oxygen levels got my attention right away.
And what did you think of the results?
I saw a little something, but honestly there just weren’t enough applications done for me to really judge. We’re visual people in this industry, and sometimes that can work against a product. I understood that you couldn’t put something out that was meant to change the entire soil ecology a single time and expect to immediately see dramatic results like you do with some other treatments. Agriox is the kind of product you have to put into your program so that you gradually get those benefits over time. By working on improving the soil you grow stronger plants, and that is something worth investing some time to accomplish.
And since then, you’ve put in that time?
Agriox became an important part of my management program when I took my first head superintendent job in Southern Pines, and it is here in the mountains as well. In each case we’ve seen increased root mass, improved disease resistance and more efficient water uptake. I can tell you straight out that I wouldn’t manage greens anywhere without it. No way.
Sounds like you feel it’s been worth it.
Absolutely, but it took me a while to break out of the Old School way of thinking that comes from working under long-time veterans who tend to go with products that have been around and are known to work. Used to be when the money was there nobody really questioned what something cost, you just bought what you wanted, what you knew, but those days are gone and aren’t coming back.
With the peaks and valleys of the economy in recent years, you have to be willing to look outside of the box. I’ve cast aside that old attitude of “You Get What You Pay For” because cost effectiveness is about more than that, so you can’t afford to overlook any products just because they aren’t familiar. Now my motto is “Make Every Application Count.” My responsibility as a manager is to get every last bit of value I can out of every budget dollar, and that means instead of getting more for less you have to figure out ways to get A LOT MORE for less.
When it comes to buying Agriox, I know that I’m getting the bang for my buck that I need. When you account for all it does for you, helping you to get better results from all the other things you are doing, it turns out to be very economical.
It’s great to hear that you find the return on your investment to be worthwhile. Can you talk some about your personal experience with the product?
Sure. When I made the move to Hyland Golf Club they told me they wanted to limit core aerification to a single time in June. Summers can get pretty rough in Pinehurst, but I told them I didn’t have a problem with that because there are other things you can do to work on the root system. I felt comfortable saying that largely because I was intending to use Agriox to get extra oxygen into the soil anyway.
So we got the program up and running, and then there was a string of days where the temps were in the 90′s with low humidity and the greens were showing signs of stress. I had been making regular Agriox applications, but decided to go out before I was due to see if I could give them some relief. Well, by that afternoon they were actually looking perky like they do the day after they’ve gotten a flush from a nice rain. That was the moment I knew the product does exactly what Geoponics says it will.
I’m at a different course now, growing a different variety, but the results are still there. In fact, it’s been over a month since I’ve sprayed a fungicide on my greens, so you know I’m confident they are healthy, and that product is a big part of the reason why.
As you know, one of our main goals as a company is to reduce the need for chemical inputs, so that is exactly the sort of feedback we are looking for. Any time we hear success stories like that, where our customers see how powerful an efficiently running soil ecology can be, there’s really no greater reward.
I agree completely. Like I said before, I really feel that a healthy soil grows a stronger plant, and in my mind that is by far the best defense against all kinds of stress. It’s basic agronomics really: if you work from the bottom up, your tops will be enhanced. I have to give my crew the chance to succeed no matter what the conditions are, and the way you do that is by cultivating a resistant and resilient stand of turf.
The other major goal of our company is to improve water use efficiency. How has working with Geoponics impacted your moisture management program?
At the time when I first started using the Agriox product I was putting it out with the popular Cascade / Duplex mix which was a part of my normal program. Like most guys, I wasn’t looking to change wetting agents, but in talking to my Geoponics reps they kept coming back to the Penterra product because of how it was critical to get Agriox into the root zone where it needs to be in order to do its job.
Eventually I decided to evaluate it by putting it into a tough situation and see what it could do, so I did a trial on a fairway which had drainage issues and tended to stay wet. Again, it did just what I was told it would and pulled the water off the top quickly and down through the profile more effectively than any other surfactant.
I’ve used it regularly since then, and its helped me to get a consistency of play across the whole course at a fraction of the cost of what I was using before. It’s really unbelievable how much less it is; Geoponics obliterates the competition on price and rate. There’s a fine line between having too much or too little moisture in your root zone, whether it’s for plant hydration or for nutrient solubility when you apply a fertilizer. Penterra lets me make the adjustments I need to strike the right balance.
The key to that level of performance is in the activity. That formulation reduces surface tension on the dynes scale so far it’s almost unfair; it truly is an “industrial strength” product. And with a very high active ingredient level, the concentration insures a little goes a long way. Aside from Agriox and Penterra, which other products have you tried out or use regularly?
Even though I try to be open-minded about new things, in the beginning you are always going to be somewhat skeptical. After a while, if you have all good results, that goes away, but like most guys I’m only going to trial a product or two at a time. For me that meant trying out a few of the foliars here and there, and it turned out I liked what I saw.
Grizzly Iron is all I’ll use now; it really is the best one out there. The NitroN30 is great stuff too. I used to use Harness, which is a very good product, but what you are buying is a long chain urea either way, so why pay more than twice as much to get it and end up using drums at a time instead of cases? I especially like the liquid calcium product. When you’re managing 30 acres of of short-cut bentgrass fairways like I am, you’re going to want some Fortitude out there for stress relief and for just building a stronger plant.
I’ll tell you what product is one of my favorites ever: Carbotein. And I ain’t lying. It’s part of both my greens and tee program. In fact, I double apply my driving range tee, and with regular top dressing it recovers in no time even with tons of play. The turf density is excellent everywhere I spray it, which provides all sorts of benefits. I treat my fairways with it monthly, and now I don’t need lots of growth regulators, plus I’m seeing savings on gas and cutting back on time spent mowing, which means less personnel down time.
It’s funny, the analysis on that product (6-2-5) doesn’t make people think it can do that much, but its full spectrum of amino acids really gets the biodiversity of the microbes in the soil working for you, so we are constantly hearing from customers about how many amazing results they’ve seen as a result of using it. On every kind of plant imaginable, from roses to row crops, on flowers and ornamental grasses, if it grows in the ground, it responds to Carbotein.
It’s those basic agronomics again, working from the bottom up to build a healthy soil which makes for a more robust plant. I’ll be a Carbotein buyer for life.
We’ve covered quite a bit, and it goes without saying we are so grateful to have been given the chance to earn your business. Is there anything else you’d like to mention about the company or product line before we call it a day?
The way I approach the job is by evaluating what needs to be done, setting objectives, and then figuring out what it will cost to meet them. The Geoponics products help me to do that, not only because of their affordability, but because of the high level of the chemistry being used.
I’ve been really pleased with everything I’ve used, but one of the things I’ve liked most about the whole line from the get go is how it allows you to put a program together in a way that fits with the goals you have at a given time, and how adaptable it is to when those goals change. As I’ve played with the products and continued to learn, I keep discovering ways to get more out of them.
It’s exciting really. If you break down those walls of the Old School thought we mentioned earlier, you can get out of some ruts you don’t even realize you’re in. People like myself who have given Geoponics a chance have really seen a lot of good things as a result.
Thank you for saying that. I know you have made recommendations to people to try our products and have gone out of your way to talk to other superintendents about the company and what we are working towards, and we truly appreciate that a great deal.
Well, you’re more than welcome. I’m glad to help spread the word, and if there is any way that I may be of assistance in the future, please let me know.
This interview was conducted by telephone in early November of 2011. Geoponics Earth Chemistries would like to thank Mr. Cape for expressing a willingness to discuss his experiences with fellow superintendents. He may be contacted through his work email: aaroncape@reemscreekgolf.com
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Reems Creek Golf Club in gorgeous Weaverville, N.C. offers a secluded setting that captures the splendor and rustic beauty of the Blue Ridge Mountains. It regularly wins four stars in Golf Digest’s “Places to Play.”
November 7th, 2011
When I started here there were some hydrophobic areas on a few greens you could pound with a hose, stick a probe in there and find it was practically dust; about all that would get wet was the thatch. Once we started using a combination of Penterra and Humawet, we didn’t have to spend a bunch of time working those same spots because the moisture levels evened out across the entire playing surface. In fact, we ended up going the entire summer (2011) without having any problems with localized dry spots. Like a lot of guys I’d gotten used to using the “top dog” wetting agent and wasn’t looking to change brands, but once I tried the Geoponics products and saw they would do what I needed, for a lot less, I knew we would continue to use them.
Marty Parish, Superintendent
Lakeshore Golf Course
Durham, NC
October 10th, 2011
Carbotein was first introduced to me when trials were begun at the greenhouse where I work. The salesperson asked me to bring some home to try on my bonsai, which I did. Of course they don’t like anything heavy, and when feeding them you aren’t looking for growth, so we settled on a very low rate. What I observed over time was a denser canopy developing with a deeper green foliage, but with very little size increase, which is just what one looks for. So it has turned out to be the best fertility product I’ve used over the years.
I’ve also been treating my Meyer lemon tree with good results. Like with other plants I’ve seen the Carbotein used on, it just seems healthier and more robust as a result. In fact, its hardiness was recently (summer 2011) put to the test when I was unexpectedly away for two weeks during a wicked heat wave of +100° days, over which it received no water. When I returned home, I was not surprised to see the soil in the planter was dry as a bone, and the leaves had all begun to curl. I’ve been cultivating that tree for ten years now and was very upset that it seemed to be beyond saving. There was nothing to be done but to start back watering and hope. Amazingly enough, by the end of the week it was back to looking fine; it lost maybe 20 leaves, at most, when I had been expecting to lose the whole thing. I attribute its quick recovery and survival to Carbotein. We’ve all been really impressed by what we’ve seen it do, and we really appreciate that it is all-natural as well.
Fred Davis
City of Raleigh Greenhouses
Assistant Greenhouse Worker
September 8th, 2011
The Champions Course at Bryan Park #6 with enhanced target.
We sprayed ENDURANT in mid-March (2011) as part of our preparation for a tournament we hosted earlier this spring. We were very pleased with the sprayability of the product and the stunning contrast the application provided. Perhaps most notable was the growth response we saw from the turf as a result of the enhanced canopy temperatures. We are at least 2 to 3 weeks ahead of our normal greenup and growth pattern, the effect was superior to an early season fertilizer application. I feel confident we will paint fairways next winter with ENDURANT.
Kevin Smith CGCS
V.P. / Director of Agronomy
Pinnacle Golf Properties
Whatever your game, be prepared for a great golfing experience whether you’re teeing it up on the original Players Course or the newer, more challenging Champions Course.
June 11th, 2011
Thank you for taking time to meet with us today. I’d like to start out by asking how you found out about Geoponics and why you decided to trial our products.
I first learned about the company through my sales representative, Josh Newnam. I already had a personal relationship with him from his previous job, and I also knew he had been a superintendent. I know Sam Green down at Eagle Point from when he was in the mountains, and saw he was a customer. Because of those two things, I was comfortable enough to give the Geoponics products a try.
Which product did you decide to try first and why?
My previous golf course down in SC had a $1.3 million budget; my first year at Methodist it was $180 thousand. Obviously I knew going in that it wouldn’t be feasible to use my old program here, but I wasn’t just going to go and jump on the cheapest stuff out there. I wanted to find a company with a complete line that offered a happy medium between quality and price, which is what I was evaluating when we first used the Agriox, Carbotein and Terrain on our greens.
What was your initial impression of their effectiveness?
Well, we got good results right away, so we knew the products worked, but to be honest I didn’t expect it would last. I thought, “How can this stuff be cheaper than the rest of the premium brands and still give better results?” But it didn’t peter out quickly like I thought it would; we got 3 to 3 1/2 weeks of good strong color from that single application.
When you have a small crew like I have, that’s huge because going out every seven days is not something you want to have to do. The compatibility of it is great too. Some of the more pricey products take forever to mix up, but in a real world situation you just don’t have time for that. We have a 175 gallon sprayer, and when we’re putting out the Geoponics products we don’t even have to cut the water down when filling the tank.
Besides the Pro-Turf Program you are using on your greens, have you treated other areas of the course?
We have twelve acres of 419 sprigs that went out the second week of June, when we were in the middle of 100 degree heat. Needless to say, we really wanted to get them grown in as quickly as possible. They all were treated with Carbotein, and I believe it has helped the granular to do that. l plan on continuing to use it on the fairways, because the tees have really tightened up since we started spraying them, which is great because we get tons and tons of play. They are fairly small, so we’re really looking forward to improved wear tolerance.
Have the golfers noticed the improvements you’ve mentioned?
Well, we have been doing a major greens renovation here, so we aren’t getting play right now, but everyone is paying close attention to the course. My bosses are the President and Vice President of the university, and it’s my neck that’s on the line. If I didn’t trust the Geoponics products, if I didn’t believe in them, there would be no way I would buy it. Our sister course was about to go on a competing program when I told the superintendent there about the Geoponics products. He’s started using them and is really liking what he sees as well. I’m on the board of the Sand Hills association, and I’ve told those guys about it too.
Thank you so much for doing that. Other than the ones we’ve mentioned already, do any of the other products stand out in your mind?
My guys really like the marker dye because it’s easy to clean off their hands. I always tell them to wear gloves whenever they are spraying, but you can’t be in their back pocket all the time, so I’d catch them with blue hands sometimes. With the Blue Cobra, if they can get in here and scrub down real quick, I can’t tell. I’ll say something like, “Hey, you wore your gloves today.” And they’re just laughing about it. More importantly, I like that it breaks down and dissipates pretty quick. That way the true color comes through, and it doesn’t end up looking like you’re trying to cover something up.
That about covers it. Is there anything you’d like to add?
Most people don’t know this, but Methodist University has the largest PGA golf management program in the country. The neat thing about it is that the students take classes in every aspect of the industry, from food and beverage to golf shop operation. I teach the agronomy class their junior year, and I truly think it has been a win-win situation because the work study students and interns around the shop have been able to see improvements being made with just a few affordable products. With the way things are in golf now where the general manager sometimes has just as much say about which fertilizer or equipment is used as the superintendent, that will be valuable information for them to have once they become the decision makers.
We couldn’t agree more. Our belief at Geoponics is that an informed customer is a happy customer…
Right. The product is one thing, but the customer service is important also. Not only can Josh answer a question without having to look in a binder, he has come in here and taken a real interest. There are times when I feel like other chemical companies look past us, but that wasn’t the case with him and Geoponics. I was lucky that one of my mentors instilled in me the belief that to get the best results you have to keep everyone in the loop. I don’t keep anything from my crew, so they are all knowledgeable and very capable. They know the products, but more importantly Josh knows them, where some salesmen won’t give them the time of day. I really think that makes a big difference.
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Located in the Sandhills of North Carolina, Methodist University is one of a select group to offer PGA Golf Management accredited by the PGA of America.
August 26th, 2010
This interview was conducted on property; photographs taken that same day.
Good morning! Let’s start out with an introduction. Please tell us your name and what you do here at Brunswick Plantation.
My name is Heather Watkins-Vaughan, and I have been here at the Brunswick Plantation Golf Resort for 10 years now. I’m in charge of the subdivision maintenance department, our developmental group, and all golf course landscaping.
Thank you so much for meeting with us here today. So how did you first learn about Geoponics as a company and about our products?
I first learned about the company through the golf course. They were doing a lot of renovations on the greens at the time, really switching things around out there, and a conservation easement was being added in the process. That caused a big change to the way we’d choose which products to buy, and has influenced everything from the types of fertilizer and other chemicals we use, to raising issues of aquatic safety and public opinion. The golf course superintendent started using a number of Geoponics products, and he was really seeing amazing results.
In addition to that, one of our main owners has a major construction firm, and they were doing site work where, in order to get the permits needed to continue developing, they had to have really good grass coverage. Well, there were areas where they had gone out and hydroseeded time and time again, using $15K to $25K worth of products, and absolutely nothing was happening. Then they started taking Carbotein, Humawet and some other Geoponics products out there, and it just exploded with growth. Rob was making grass grow on pure sugar sand and extreme slopes, places I have never seen grass grow in my life. Once I saw that, I had to try it.
I’m glad that we were able to come in and help out in a circumstance like that. Having had the opportunity to see the results of a number of Geoponics products, which did you decide to try first for yourself?
Carbotein was the first product I tried. That and Agriox. We’ve got a lot of flowers out here, over 17,000 at any given point in time, whether it’s fall or spring, and that’s a lot of money. We were going with the typical products that are out there, which are all salt carriers, and what we were noticing was an extreme sodium build up in the beds that was hurting my plants. We were spending copious amounts of money on calcium trying to eradicate that as a result.
Once we started checking out Carbotein and realized that beyond being organic and safe it also didn’t have the salt base, I simply had to give it a try. In doing so, we have easily saved 75% off of our fertilizer budget this year, and that’s on top of all the calcium I was having to put out.
No kidding! That’s a really large number. How is the product to use?
Carbotein is the easiest product I’ve used in my life. I don’t have to worry about any incompatibility issues when doing a tank mix or about the safety of my staff. I’ve had it on me, they’ve had it on them and it’s not an issue.
We are a very family-friendly operation here. There’s a large condominium aspect to what we do, the golf packages, as well as permanent housing, all of which means we have a lot of children running around. On a side note, that is one of the huge things I have to consider. I love that Carbotein is so safe, not only for my staff, but for everybody else around the property.
Once you decided to use Carbotein, how did you find it affected the way you were treating flower beds?
It has changed virtually everything. From tank mixing to the PPE [Personal Protective Equipment] that my employees were having to go out with; from the soil profile to the bottom line. It has impacted every single bit of it. It’s a product that you just don’t have to worry about even when children, guests or visitors are around.
How has it impacted the amount of time spent covering your areas?
The Carbotein gives us such good results that I can go out once every 4 to 5 weeks, whereas with the other product lines we were going out roughly every 7 to 10 days, and their results weren’t even close. It’s been a huge change: in hours and in the bottom line, in every way.
How are you determining your rates and frequency of applications?
My rep. That’s a very, very easy answer, and actually one of the things I like most about Geoponics. When you are making fertility applications in the landscaping field it is obviously very different than the treatments made within the golf course industry.
Rates are going to be really exact when you are spraying turfgrass, but on flowers and shrubs, due to differences in size and density, leaf structure, whether they’re waxy or hairy, there’s just a huge range to how you put things out. Anything that I want to know, anything that I want to experiment with, I know Jennifer has already done it. She uses these products herself; she trusts them, and any time I have a question she’s always available to answer it.
Jennifer makes suggestions to me as well. She has come out here, and she’s worked with me. We started off at a low-moderate rate, saw what that did and loved the results. So we pushed it a little bit more the next time, and by pushing it a little bit harder we didn’t have to go out quite as fast. And because the product is so safe, even those times when we pushed the envelope, possibly adding a little more than I would have felt immediately comfortable with, the only thing we saw was an increase in the density of the plants, more vigor, more health, and more growth. So it has really worked out well.
That’s fantastic. We’re very glad to hear that you are having a good experience, and we really appreciate your business and willingness to work with us. You care for quite a few different types of plants, from flowers to shrubs and everything in between. Have you found there to be any liabilities working with a single product on such a broad range?
I have found that there are none at all. There is not a plant that I have treated with any single Geoponics product that has had a problem with it. Obviously, all plants have different growth patterns and growth rates, so we just don’t put as much product on anything we don’t want to have to prune quite as regularly.
The flowers that I have this year by far surpass any flower bed I’ve ever had in my life. The homeowners have been enthusiastic about the changes they’ve seen as well. Most of them are actually asking us what we are using because they want to get involved in this type of a program too.
That’s great to hear, and the flower bed there behind you really speaks volumes. I think it is important to note that we are currently in the middle of a period of record heat. What you would expect to see under these conditions, and do you think the soil you’ve cultivated with these products has positively impacted the stress resistance and tolerance of your plants?
It was 102 degrees out here yesterday with a heat index of 110, so it has definitely impacted it. Less than 2.5’ below the bed that I am standing in front of right now is pure concrete. (Unfortunately, they didn’t decide to put it here until after the slab was poured.) It is obviously extremely hydrophobic, with a horrible soil profile. Granted, I’m having to really push Penterra and Carbotein on this bed in order to get it to do this well, but at this time last year it was already dead.
In addition, given the fact that it doesn’t drain the way that it should, we’ve always had to put a lot of fungicides out here. Since we began using the Geoponics products though, for the first time ever, I have not put a drop of fungicide on any single bed on the property, which is huge.
Now that’s what we want to hear! It’s exactly that sort of proactive environmentalism that will allow us to together make a real difference for the good in the natural world. You mentioned a product named Penterra, which is a surfactant commonly used by our golf course customers, but not typically by landscapers. Tell us a little about what brought you to that product and about the results you’ve seen since starting to use it.
I’m using Penterra at one of our townhome facilities here. There are 12 buildings, and they have the worst soil profile you’ll ever see in your life: it is either extremely boggy wet, or it is hard as a rock. When we first did the landscaping there, we actually used pick axes to put in the plants, which should tell you how horrible it is. Since it’s pure gumbo clay, the hotter it gets, the more compacted the ground gets, to the point where water just pools on top of the grass and won’t soak down at all. I’ve put out repeated applications of gypsum to no avail; nothing has happened at all.
Then about four months ago we started going out with Penterra. The golf course superintendent, who comes out here and works with me, had told me it would cause the water to move through the soil profile better, and it has. That’s another area where I have not had to put a single fungicide out this year, and I’m hoping we’re not going to need a Fall application to renovate spring dead spot there next year either.
Aside from the Carbotein and Penterra, I understand that you use Agriox, our soil oxygen product. Can you tell us some about that?
I love the Agriox; it’s amazing. Out of the whole product line, I can honestly tell you that I have never, in my entire life, seen anything work the way Agriox does.
Due to the clay I’ve mentioned we have out here, nutrients get flat out choked up in the soil profile and are just not available to the plants. There have been situations in the past where every 5 to 7 days I was putting out products which would have absolutely no positive impact. I mean, you can put foliar applications on things all day long, but if your soil profile is poor, if you haven’t done anything to support the root system and microbial activity in the ground, then you’ve done nothing. It wasn’t until we started working with Geoponics that I realized how horrible the soil really was out here. I was throwing good money after bad, week after week, until I found Agriox.
Actually, I had quit fertilizing for around 3 weeks when I decided to give the Agriox a try, and literally in seven days I had 16” worth of growth in a bed that was flat out floundering. It had hollies that had never really sent out feeder roots since being planted over 8 years ago, so I was at the point of thinking another plant needed to be put into the site. But then we put the Agriox out. Instead of having to remove the bed, it’s now the healthiest I’ve got on the property. In fact, it’s still growing and doing really well.
Agriox has also saved us money on the back side in a way that it didn’t occur to me it would. There are over 85 units here which each hold between 4 to 10 people. As you can imagine, we’ve got an extreme traffic situation during the golf season. Unfortunately that means a lot of damage caused by vehicles. Because of that, we’ve always had to buy plants of the same size to replace the ones that have been damaged. For the first time since starting here, I don’t have to do that now. I know I can buy a plant that is a reasonable size, at a reasonable cost, put it in, and within 3 or 4 months I will have a plant that is as established as those around it.
Awesome. We’ve covered quite a bit today. I would just ask if there is anything you would like to add?
The biggest thing is that I really want y’all to continue pushing towards landscapers and not just towards golf course superintendents. The trend here [in the Myrtle Beach area] has always been that the golf courses get all the attention. It’s only really been over the last 10 or 12 years that the landscaping element of the golf courses, and of the subdivisions, has started to gain a presence and have a voice. Yet it’s still all too common that we get totally ignored. The vendors don’t come to see us; the reps don’t come talk to us. And so we don’t get any information.
Geoponics isn’t that way. If I hadn’t seen the results – if my sales representative hadn’t been half as nice as she is – I would never have tried the products, and I would’ve really missed out. So please continue pushing the line. Every landscaper on the beach could benefit from it.
You definitely don’t have to worry about that. Geoponics is committed to getting these Earth Chemistries in front of anyone in the Green Industry who is looking to work in concert with natural systems rather than against them. In closing, I’d just like to say that on the way in today I drove past one gorgeous planter after another. There is no way that anyone coming onto this property wouldn’t know that you are doing an incredible job.
Well, I appreciate everything your company is doing. Most importantly I appreciate that y’all are being so environmentally considerate with the product line that you sell.
We certainly appreciate your support as well, and are so grateful to have had the opportunity to help you do your job in a way that you feel more comfortable. Thank you again for speaking with us today.
July 15th, 2010
I am a hobby gardener that keeps a small backyard patch with everything from lettuce to potatoes. After learning about Carbotein, I was pleased to have the chance to experiment with a truly environmentally friendly, natural fertilizer. I selected heirloom tomato plants for the test, and potted them in separate containers. The test plant received a root drench of Carbotein, and the control was not treated with anything other than the fertilizer in the potting soil, which I used for both. The plants received normal waterings.
During the time of growth, the infused plant was more compact, greener and fuller than the untreated plant which grew taller and had fewer buds. Unfortunately, in the middle of the trial I had to unexpectedly leave town, and when I returned home discovered the plants had been neglected almost to the point of no return. Without much hope, I began watering them regularly again, and lo and behold the one treated with Carbotein (which I now call The Wonder Plant) recovered quicker and more completely than the other plant which has almost no regrowth. Since then I’ve been lucky enough to get the opportunity to eat them before having to go on location for work again. Compared to the control plant, the root drenched tomatoes were redder, juicier and more tasty, and there were bunches more of them!
I am so very happy with the product, and will continue to use it. In fact, I have already infused my newly tilled beds with Carbotein, and I’m excited to see what it will do for my summer plantings.
Elisabeth Fry
Orange County, CA
June 25th, 2010
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