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From the editor
By Mike Jiggens
Saluting industry’s top women leaders
By sheer coincidence, this issue includes a couple of features that profile two prominent women in the professional turfgrass industry in Canada. One is an up-andcoming young golf superintendent who was the lone woman to crack Turf & Rec’s inaugural Top 10 Under 40 list in the spring, while the other has recently retired from a career that spanned four decades during which time she was a pioneer among women in helping superintendents across Canada solve a number of disease setbacks on their golf courses.
To those outside the industry, it might not seem like such a big deal to have stories published about a pair of women whose careers are tied to the upkeep of turfgrass. But among those employed in the industry and who read this magazine, it’s common knowledge that women occupy only a fraction of the industry’s workforce.
Having these two women –one representing the industry’s past and the other the future, if you will – featured in the same issue is a big deal.
Our cover feature is a reflection of the recent volunteer experience of Pheasant Run Golf Club superintendent Leasha Schwab at the 100th PGA Championship, played at the Bellerive Golf Club in St. Louis. Without spoiling the story, let’s just say that a fortuit-
ous meeting with Bellerive’s superintendent occur red months earlier, precipitating a series of events where Schwab’s experience, personality and leadership skills kicked into high gear.
Women occupy only a fraction of the industry’s workforce
The other woman featured in this issue is someone renowned from coast to coast in the golf world. Marie Thorne’s career in the chemical business began in the early 1980s, and she has left her mark in the industry as one of the most influential women who has worked in turf. She retired from Syngenta Canada this past July.
I originally met Leasha about five years ago when she was superintendent at Foxbridge Golf Club in Uxbridge, Ont., and could sense then that she was destined for greater things even while she was still in her early 20s. Having met up with her again late this summer and seeing the way she interacted with her staff only solidified my earlier convictions of her. I could clearly see she had her male-dominant staff’s full respect. That usually comes from leading by example and having the right people skills.
I, therefore, wasn’t the least bit surprised when she was named to Turf & Rec’s inaugural Top 10 Under 40 list. She is also only one of two people in the history of this publication to be
featured twice on the cover.
As for Marie Thorne, I’ve known her for as long as I’ve been working for Turf & Rec She had already been working in the turfgrass industry for more than a decade at the time, and I’m less than a year away from reaching the quarter-century mark with Turf & Rec.
Our paths have crossed in several Canadian provinces and at a multitude of events, including an Ontario Turfgrass Research Foundation fundraising golf tournament where she and her playing partners made history by becoming the first ever all-female foursome to play together at the National Golf Club of Canada.
I suspect Marie’s departure from the turf world won’t be an entirely easy one. She said she’d like to focus on improving her golf game in retirement, but added it will be difficult not to make mental notes about imperfections she may spot on the golf course when she’s supposed to be concentrating on how her putt is going to break.
Travel is a part of her retirement plans as well with England being one of her targeted destinations. One thing that has always fascinated her about England, and Europe in general, is the professional darts tour, and being part of the live audience might be fun, she said. Darts fans are a spirited bunch and would fit in well with the studio audiences at tapings of Let’s Make a Deal or those attending a lavish Halloween party.
Somehow I can’t picture Marie dressed as Ronald McDonald or one of the Teletubbies.
www.turfandrec.com
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Glen Abbey fight costing municipality $5M in legal fees
The fight to keep Oakville’s Glen Abbey Golf Club from falling into the hands of developers intent on building more than 3,000 new residential units at the site has already cost the municipality $5.3 million on consultants and lawyers.
The town wishes to conserve the golf course as a heritage site while its owner ClubLink wants to sell the property for development.
Artificial turf triggers lovers vs. haters war in Vancouver
Artificial turf along a number of streets and sidewalks in Vancouver has triggered some heated debate between those who find it attractive and those who consider it to be tacky.
Laid mostly outside condominium buldings, the synthetic turf is praised by those who dislike the use of pesticides and fertilizers yet chastised by those who say it’s ugly and environmentally unfriendly.
The city itself claims artificial turf doesn’t fit with its sustainability plans regarding rainwater, trees and biodiversity. It regards artificial turf surfaces as not being fully permeable.
‘Doughnut’ driver damages Winnipeg golf green
About 85 per cent of a golf green at Winnipeg’s Harbour View Golf Course was destroyed by someone who recently drove “doughnuts” on it. A temporary green was constructed until the vandalized green became ready for play again.
The golf course’s lead hand said there was no video surveillance available to help identify the culprit. He added he was unable to determine the cost of the repairs.
The incident may impact the spring.
Unreported high lead levels forces closure of school’s field
Students attending Winnipeg’s Weston Elementary School were barred from using the school’s playground after it was revealed that soil in the area was contaminated with high levels of lead. The notice was given two weeks into the start of the new school year.
The test that revealed the presence of lead was conducted 10 years ago, but the provincial government of the day chose not to disclose the information. Manitoba’s sustainable development department was to determine if the playground has since become safe to use
News of the undisclosed contamination outraged parents whose children had been playing on the field for several years without knowing about the potential danger.
The soil testing conducted in 2007 showed 19 of 22 samples taken from the sports field contained lead levels exceeding national guidelines for the protection of human health. The
NDP government of the time didn’t make public the results of the testing.
An action plan to deal with possible contamination was developed between school board and government public health officials. In the meantime, a school board official tried to alleviate fear among parents, telling them the sod layer atop the soil makes the risk to children almost negligible.
The average contamination level of lead in the soil from the 2007 testing was 463 parts per million. The acceptable level is 140 parts per million. One of the 22 samples taken had 1,130 parts per million.
It’s not the first time lead levels at the Weston school have caused concern. Elevated lead levels were found in the blood of students attending Weston and Lord Nelson elementary schools in 1976 and 1979. As a result of the findings, clean-up efforts were undertaken in 1981 and 1983.
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An opportunity of a lifetime
Ontario superintendent volunteers at 100th PGA Championship in St. Louis.
By Mike Jiggens
Being in the right place at the right time paid off handsomely for a golf course
superintendent from East Gwillimbury, Ont., creating a once-in-a-lifetime experience for the young woman.
Leasha Schwab, superintendent at the 27-hole Pheasant Run Golf Club, spent nine days in St. Louis, Mo. in August, volunteering at the 100th PGA Championship – the fourth and final major on the PGA Tour schedule. She was one of three women on the 150-person grounds maintenance crew – bolstered by 90 volunteers – and believes she might have been the lone Canadian on board.
Volunteerism at PGA Tour events is common practice among golf superintendents. It is a chance to network with others in the profession from across North America and around the world, and often participating superintendents can reap valuable information and skills they can utilize later at their own courses
For Schwab, who was recognized last spring by Turf & Rec as one of Canada’s top 10 turfgrass professionals under the age of 40, the opportunity to volunteer at St. Louis’ Bellerive Country Club originated from a seminar she attended last winter at the Golf Industry Show in San Antonio, Texas. The seminar – about people in culture – was co-presented by Grant Murphy, associate superintendent at The National Golf Club of Canada, and Carlos Arraya, superintendent at Bellerive.
After meeting Arraya, Schwab stayed in touch with him during the months that followed.
“We’re both quite interested in people and culture and leadership,” she said. “I’ve been asked to give a talk about people in culture in Seattle this coming December. We’re both on that same wavelength. It’s always really nice when you talk to someone that is into that stuff as well.”
Much of Schwab’s exchanges with Arraya have dealt with the subject of diversity in the profession. Arraya is
Puerto Rican, Schwab is female and her assistant is Jamaican-Irish. All are minorities in a predominantly white, male profession.
“We always joke that we’re the most diverse club because I’m a woman superintendent with a black assistant – and you don’t get that very often – so Carlos and I talk a lot about stuff like that because he’s Puerto Rican.”
Arraya is one of only a few superintendents from among visible minorities to have been host for a major golf championship. While reviewing volunteer applications for the PGA championship, he called Schwab to request her presence on the crew, saying it would be good to have some female representation.
GOING TO ST. LOUIS
She felt honoured to be requested for the team, but her immediate reaction was to think there “wasn’t a chance in hell” she could justify taking the time off from Pheasant Run in August. Schwab chose not to make the decision by herself, however, and consulted with both her club owner and general manager, informing them of the invitation yet noting her concerns about the nine-day absence from work.
Pheasant Run superintendent Leasha Schwab with an 18th hole flag from Bellerive she took home as a souvenir after working the 100th PGA Championship.
“Your crew is awesome and can cover for you while you’re away,” Schwab said she was told. “I’m so lucky (to have the crew she has, some of whom were with her when she was superintendent at Foxbridge Golf Course in Uxbridge, Ont.). I have an amazing crew. I’m never ever worried about them making the right decision on my behalf. It’s really nice that my owners recognize that as well. They said, ‘This is something you need to do. This really isn’t an option. If you’re invited to the 100th PGA Championship, you go to the 100th PGA Championship.’”
Pheasant Run covered her return airfare to St. Louis while Bellerive and John Deere paid most of her other expenses.
The invitation to join the volunteer crew at Bellerive came with a special request. She was one of four volunteers asked to sit in on all of the management meetings each afternoon during the week of the PGA, getting an inside look at how such an event is run.
“He (Arraya, who was heading his first ever Tour event as a superintendent) was trying to promote diversity, and it also gave us an inside look at how to run a PGA championship.”
Schwab arrived in St. Louis on the Sunday prior to the major’s Thursday start and attended her first volunteers’ meeting. The group had to catch a shuttle at
3:30 a.m. each day to get from their hotel to the golf course and begin work for the day, finishing at about 8:30 a.m. They would return to their accommodations for a nap before resuming work at 4 p.m. The day’s work concluded anywhere between 9 and 11 p.m.
During her first couple of days, she operated a Buffalo blower or a backpack blower but then switched gears to cut fair ways for the duration of her work period.
“I was so scared. I can’t remember the last time I operated a fairway mower, and I had never ever driven a John Deere mower in my life.”
She found the experience to be much like riding a bicycle, but she was taken aback one day when she discovered a hydraulic leak that had developed which added to the attention she was already generating.
“I don’t think anything attracts a camera crew more than a blonde chick on a fairway mower. Oh, my god! I had my own freakin’ photo crew following me around. It was so uncomfortable. I was no nervous I could feel my heartbeat in my ears.”
She mowed either in the morning or afternoon and found the zoysia grass fairways to be more rigid than what she was accustomed to.
“I’ve never worked with zoysia grass before.”
A REWARDING EXPERIENCE
‘I can’t remember the last time I operated a fairway mower, and I had never ever driven a John Deere mower in my life’
In spite of her case of nerves and mowing a warm season grass unfamiliar to most Canadian golf superintendents, Schwab said she found the volunteer experience rewarding and was impressed by how well Arraya was able to lead such a vast army of volunteers. She said she was amazed by how he inspired everyone to do their best work and how focused he was in spite of the fact that the PGA Championship coincided with the two-year anniversary of his 21-year-old son Isaiah’s untimely death. To help lift his spirits, each of the volunteers wore wristbands with Isaiah’s name inscribed on them.
Arraya’s leadership abilities were inspiring, she said, adding he kept everything in perspective throughout the tournament.
“Leadership drives everything. I was picking up leaves (by hand) around bunkers. You would not think that was an important job, but it filters down to everything.”
She said she was moved to pick up leaves to prevent them from entering into bunkers because of Arraya’s encouragement to have everyone do his best work.
Arraya also did a notable job at assembling a team that had plenty of diversity. Although most of the volunteers were American, others represented Scotland, Australia, Mexico, Costa Rica and Canada.
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“That was his goal…to make sure there was a lot of diversity, and he did a really good job of that.”
Schwab said St. Louis isn’t known for its acceptance of non-white races and cultures, yet whites, blacks and Latinos all mixed together in harmony at Bellerive.
“That is a positive thing.”
Schwab said that she likely wouldn’t volunteer at another Tour event again unless it was on a grand scale.
“It would have to be something pretty special. I left so inspired coming back here, just really wanting to bring our team together, heighten our organization….”
Something she hopes to incorporate into her role as a leader at Pheasant Run is to have regular one-on-one meetings for 15 minutes each week with her maintenance staff. It’s a strategy Arraya has adopted to help boost staff morale and get to know his staff better.
“It’s hard to be around someone like Carlos and not get so wrapped up in the leadership part of it.”
The PGA Championship experience was something that came about for Schwab because she decided to support Murphy when he spoke with Arraya at last winter’s GIS.
“One wonderful person led to another wonderful person. If you align yourself with good people, then all of a sudden the next person you meet is the same.”
While in San Antonio last February, Schwab hosted an event for women in the golf industry that attracted more than 80 people. Only women were invited to the inaugural event that is slated again for 2019 at the GIS in San Diego, Calif., but this time men will be invited to the session that follows a women-only cocktail hour. Restricting the entire event to only women last winter was done on purpose.
“You can’t host a women’s event for the first year and invite men. It’s not going to have the same impact and feel that it needs to have.”
The goal of the event was to allow women in the industry a chance to meet one another and develop new friendships.
“Did that mean I was starting a whole women’s movement? No. I just thought it would be nice for women to get to know each other. There’s a vast difference.”
Schwab said she has no agenda regarding any type of a women’s movement, adding the industry should be all-inclusive, no matter the person’s gender or ethnicity.
“If you’re good at your job, you should have the chance to be good at your job.”
Being pro-woman and anti-man is not the same thing, she said, adding she encourages women to want to enter into the golf industry.
“The only reason I am where I am is because of the men in this business. They have helped me the most. They are who have inspired me the most.”
Those who have visited Pheasant Run have told her that it is funny how different she really is in comparison to how some perceive her. Among her male-dominant peers, Schwab feels she is accepted “100 per cent” as a professional equal to them.
“I think a lot of the reason that women aren’t in this industry is because they don’t really know. If women can be seen in a particular industry, others will flock in that direction.”
Health & Safety
By the CCOHS
The Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety (CCOHS) promotes the total well being of workers in Canada by providing information, training, education, systems and solutions that support health and safety programs and injury and illness prevention. www.ccohs.ca
Preventing musculoskeletal disorders on the job
Selecting the proper tool for the job and fitting it to the individual is important for productivity and worker health, however, even people working at a correctly designed workstation and using the best available tools can get injured.
If you work with hand tools or plan the work of those who do, here are some tips for work organization to help prevent musculoskeletal disorders:
Change it up
Jobs that use only one kind of tool for one or a few tasks, or that use the same movement and same part of the body can overload those muscles, ligaments, tendons or tissues and cause pain and injury. A job that involves a variety of tasks allows you to change your body position to distribute the workload over different parts of the body. This variety gives overused muscles some relief and recovery time.
• R otate workers among tasks that are different in the type of movement and body parts used, having them move from one task to another according to a schedule.
• Add more tasks to the job.
• Assign a lar ger part of work to a team of workers with each member sharing several different tasks.
Pace, don’t race
A fast pace of work is a strong risk factor for musculoskeletal disorders. If the pace is too fast, the muscles involved do not have
enough time to recover from the effort and restore enough energy to continue the work. If the pace of work is imposed externally –assembly line speed, for example – adjust it to the speed that is acceptable for the slowest worker. Incentive systems that reward for the quality of work naturally determine the “right” pace of work. In contrast, incentive systems that reward for the amount or quantity of work increase the risk for musculoskeletal disorders and may affect quality as well.
Break it up
Work and rest breaks provide time for the muscles you are using on the job to rest and recover, and help prevent injury. The work break is a time period (even short periods of time, literally seconds) between tasks that allow you to
Even the bestdesigned tool will fail to prevent injuries if the worker is not properly trained
relax muscles involved in operating tools. Rest breaks – the period after work stops – not only allow for refreshment, but also can be used to stretch and relax.
Take time to adjust
When returning to work after a long absence, or when starting a new job, you should have an adjustment or acclimatization period to get in shape. It should allow you to refresh old work habits or get used to a new routine. An adjustment period is an important part of injury prevention. Inexperienced and new workers, as well as “old timers” returning to work after a period of recovery and rehabilitation, are more prone than most workers to both injury and re-injury.
Train
Training workers in the safe use of tools and on the hazards involved in working with them has always been extremely important. As new materials, new technologies, and new equipment replace older ones faster than ever before, the importance of training is even greater. Before introducing a new tool or equipment, as well as any change in the way the job has been done previously, the worker should be given refresher training that includes new information about the changes being introduced.
Even the best-designed tool, or the most ergonomically correct workstation, or the most up-todate work organization will fail to prevent injuries if the worker is not properly trained.
Tools designed for balanced weight distribution help to lessen fatigue and injury.
Industry pioneer reflects on long career
Marie
Thorne
was a trailblazer among women who were few in the industry when she first began.
By Mike Jiggens
Awell known and respected figure in the C anadian turf and grounds maintenance industry – and perhaps most notably as a pioneer among women – has retired from a career that spanned four decades.
Marie Thorne put in her last day in July as senior turf specialist at Syngenta Canada Inc. Even though her employment with Syngenta officially dated back only to 2000, she had been working in the professional turf field since 1983 with other companies that were impacted by either acquisition, divestiture or merger, eventually meandering toward the formation of Syngenta.
“It was just an indication of all the consolidation that started early in the chemical business,” she said, reflecting on her roots that began with Shell Chemicals in 1981. “There had to be over 100 companies – large and small – and now it’s boiled down to four.”
Thorne said it is amazing to look back at the history of the chemical industry and see how much consolidation has occurred over the past few decades.
A career in the turf industry was never on her radar at the outset. The native of Cape Breton Island had originally planned to become a veterinarian but found she
most enjoyed the plant-based science courses she studied at Nova Scotia Agricultural College (now a part of Dalhousie University) in Truro. Switching gears, she pursued her associate diploma in agriculture and completed her studies at the
University of Guelph in 1981, obtaining her bachelor-of-science degree in agriculture with a major in plant protection.
“I still use some of those basic principles from way back when, even today.”
One of her first positions with Shell
Marie Thorne has retired from Syngenta Canada following a career in the industry that has spanned four decades.
Chemicals upon her graduation from the University of Guelph was to sell corn herbicides in a new eastern Ontario sales territory. It was there that Thorne first met Gregg Allan – currently head of customer service for Syngenta Canada – when he was Shell’s product manager for animal health products.
“Gregg Allan became my career long mentor in the business. Under his leadership and guidance, my career path forged ahead. I will be eternally grateful to him for his unending support and strategic mind.”
During her first two years with Shell Chemicals, the company determined its agricultural chemical business wasn’t core to its overall strategy and spun off the division to Ciba-Geigy. The purchase of Shell Chemicals represented her first move in the industry and opened the door in 1983 to kick-start her career in turf. Ciba-Geigy, a large Swiss-based corporation known primarily for its pharmaceutical products, split Shell’s former eastern Ontario territory into two divisions: agriculture and lawn and garden. Thorne was assigned the lawn and garden division that included turf products.
“That was my first introduction to the turf business,” she said, noting she called on large retail outlets and garden centres with the Green Cross brand. Additionally, she said she experienced “great joy” in working with sod growers and golf courses in the Ottawa area.
“It was a refreshing diversion from the retail business and it also enabled me to utilize my technical experience. I really liked the turf side of the business because I like the people. I got involved. I called on the sod growers as well as the golf courses in that area. It was a lovely diversion from calling in on retail stores and setting up displays and things like that. I really, really enjoyed it.”
More changes in chemical industry
Further changes came about in the chemical industry in the 1990s. In 1996, Ciba-Geigy merged with Sandoz to form Novartis Crop Protection. In 1999,
Thorne was working for Scott’s Canada as distributor manager for the retail division. She missed turf and wanted to return to that part of the business.
“Retail was a great business experience, but I was missing my technical and turf ties.”
In January 2000, she assumed the role as business manager for the Scott’s Canada professional turf chemicals division that was subsequently acquired by Novartis Crop Protection Canada in July 2000. Allan successfully led the negotiation for this win-win deal, and Thorne was
hired as senior turf specialist to help build the business and bring the newly registered products to market.
In November 2000, Novartis merged with AstraZeneca to create the newly christened Syngenta. She said the transi-
tion from Novartis to Syngenta was smooth as there was a high level of commitment within Syngenta to service the professional turf industry.
In the mid-1990s, Thorne became intrigued by the turfgrass manager’s short
course offered through the University of Guelph and enrolled in the program, graduating at the top of her class. She said that although she had a good foundation with her bachelor-of-science degree in agriculture, she thought an educational upgrade with a focus on turf was in her best interests.
Her educational pursuits didn’t end there, however. She said it had been a long-held desire of hers to obtain some sort of certificate from Penn State University, acknowledging the institution w as considered leading edge in the world.
“It was a global leader in cool season turfgrass research and I wanted to have some sort of affiliation with Penn State.”
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In May 2003, Thorne completed an online offering of Penn State’s world campus turfgrass management program.
“I’ve always been a huge believer in continuing education. I don’t believe in the adage, ‘You can’t teach an old dog new tricks.’ It’s really contingent upon oneself to stay up with the new technology.”
A number of people she met along the way in the industry contributed toward her growing education. One she singled out was the late Gordon Witteveen, the longtime superintendent at Toronto’s Board of Trade Country Club, the author of several turfgrass technical manuals and a mentor to many current golf course superintendents.
“He was always behind promoting women in the business. He was a networker extraordinaire. He knew a lot of people, and he kind of took me under his wing a little bit and introduced me around.”
After writing the book Practical Golf Course Maintenance, Witteveen asked Thorne to review for accuracy a chapter about spraying and included her in the book’s acknowledgements.
Thorne worked with Witteveen over the years with the Ontario Turfgrass Research Foundation’s fundraising golf tournament.
Her long career has included many
2019 PLANT PICKS NO LAWN, MORE LEISURE
How to advise customers in using shrubs, flowering plants, groundcovers and more to replace lawns
By Treena Hein
These days, homeowners are being pulled in more directions than ever and their free time is increasingly precious. As they look at how to simplify their lives, more and more of them taking a long, hard look at their lawns – and gardening centres must therefore be ready with both good replacement options and good guidance.
However, although free time is of the utmost concern, reducing or eliminating lawns is also about saving money.
“Dollar for dollar, it’s cheaper in the long run to have a garden,” John Cowie, retail manager at Art’s Nursery in Surrey, B.C., notes.
Those who don’t want a lawn also aim to use less water in an era when he says many communities are putting annual restrictions in place (and in some cases bans) on watering.
But the motivation to be more earth-friendly in reducing or getting rid of lawns also goes well beyond water, Cowie says. Pests and diseases are higher in lawns than they are in a garden, and homeowners are not keen these days to put pesticides into the environment. Pests and diseases are higher in lawns because grass is a monoculture, he explains, and in a garden, the sky’s the limit for total number of species. There are often only a few or even one example of a particular plant, tree or shrub. One of Canada’s most common lawn pests is the European chafer beetle, which Cowie says has been more common this summer in B.C. because of a mild preceding winter (at least in the south of the province).
“Because they are resistant to the chafer beetle, we are recommending more fescues and micro-clover,” he says. “Micro-clover is also very drought tolerant.”
Another reason homeowners are getting rid of lawns is because some of them with children grown and gone simply don’t need one.
“People in this category might use more hardscaping, maybe they want to entertain more,” Cowie observes. “They don’t want to be pushing a lawnmower anymore.”
Alfred Prins, long-time department manager at Parkland Garden Centre in Red Deer, Alta., is another gardening
Some lawn remains after conversion, but the addition of alternative groundcover adds diversity.
professional who is seeing more people (many of them older homeowners) interested in hardscaping. He says they often go with planters and trees placed on a bed of decorative rocks, but he cautions that these beds placed in front yards can provide easy projectiles for vandals.
Lastly, Cowie adds that many people who aren’t keen on their lawns anymore are finding that they’re not doing well anyway. The trees on the property are now mature and throw a lot more shade, and lawns just don’t thrive in shade.
WHAT TO DO
Grass can be removed by applying a non-selective, non-residual herbicide, digging it up by tiller or by hand, or putting down a cover. Ken Mosher, owner of Oceanview Home & Garden in Chester, N.S. notes that plastic is a good choice if customers can wait some time, even up to a year.
“We don’t recommend landscape fabrics,” he adds, “as they are permanent and create layers that change or block waterflow and make perfect insect breeding areas. They also are not effective on some weeds such as horsetail. Our first choice to eliminate old lawns and grass is cardboard and lots of it.”
He advises overlapping two to three layers of cardboard and then covering it with mulch; the cardboard is gone in one season along with the grass under it.
Cowie rarely recommends testing the soil that held a lawn, but does stress the need to properly prepare the soil. He notes that customers don’t commonly understand that grass grows only about six inches down, and there might be clay or rocky soil under that. Organic matter should be added to make sure plants get a good start.
Mosher notes that if homeowners are working with an area that had an old lawn full of weeds, “I can pretty well guarantee the soil is acidic… evergreens, etc. will be perfectly OK with the existing soil. Perennials will benefit from adding some lime at the time of planting.”
In terms of designing the space (deciding what plants, shrubs, trees, groundcovers and other features to choose and where to place them), Cowie is always telling customers to
investigate both the online and real worlds.
“They should take pictures of what they like, and list or take pictures of what they don’t want, what hardscape features are desired – it should all be decided on first,” he says. “It’s only then can garden centre staff really help customers achieve what they want. It’s like designing your living room. It’s all personal taste and you need to know what your taste is. And you absolutely must figure out what you’re going to use the space for.”
He adds that if an area is going to be subject to foot traffic, be sure to select a groundcover that can withstand that to some degree. Most plants, he notes, can’t withstand the amount of traffic that grass can, but there are options for light-to-heavy traffic.
and more gardens was the way to go…. as long as the client is good to pay to have them maintained or is willing to put in the time. The issue is that things change and either you get older and can’t spend as much time as needed in the garden or your financial position changes and you can’t afford what you could just a year ago.”
In other words, if you plant the area with vegetation that’s going to take just as much time to maintain as a lawn (through watering, deadheading, weeding, pruning, mulching and more) and your goal of saving time is why you removed your lawn, you are no further ahead.
“Even the best-designed gardens suffer without the necessary attention,” Mosher concludes. “If you don’t mow your lawns for a month you can have a
For his part, Mosher is a big believer in designing an interesting and exciting garden space through varying the heights of plants, shrubs and other features. There are also many other options, he notes, from large rocks to hold back raised berms to dry riverbeds to help absorb and direct rainfall. And, while some plants will fill in relatively quickly, he says it usually takes at least a full growing season for the plants to establish enough root system to really get going.
“What’s more important is that the customer is realistic and uses enough plants to obtain good cover in their desired period of time,” he says.
Although “losing our lawns” seems to be a new trend, Mosher reports that “it was always my view that less grass
machine come in and fix it overnight. You can’t fix the lack of attention to a garden as quickly.”
In his view, a good landscape can add 20 to 30 per cent to the value of a property and a poor-looking one will do just the opposite.
“Be sensible in the percentage of your property that you manicure,” he says. “The options are endless for a beautiful no-lawn.”
FOR MORE
Canadian wholesaler Valleybrook Gardens (Abbotsford, B.C. and Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ont.) has created www.jeeperscreepers.info to help consumers select plants for hardiness zone, plant use and location that are useful when replacing a lawn.
A former lawn is given a new look by a variety of different groundcover and hardscaping features.
PLANT PICKS
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speaking engagements before such groups as the Canadian Golf Superintendents Association, the Ontario Golf Superintendents Association, the Western Canada Turfgrass Association, and the Atlantic and Alberta golf superintendents groups.
Career highlight
The one career highlight that stands out most, however, was her involvement in the founding of “Superintendent University,” having helped develop it from the ground floor. It was based on the success of “Grower University,” a program created within Syngenta to nurture business skills among growers in agriculture.
“Gregg Allan thought that the concept of Grower U could be adapted to the golf industry. It was very gratifying to be at the very beginning and developing the curriculum for Superintendent University with Don Barclay at the Ivey Business School.”
Superintendent University gave golf superintendents from across Canada the opportunity to develop such business skills as accounting, working with finances and dealing with difficult people. Although Allan planted the seed for the concept, Thorne had the handson experience in working with golf superintendents from across the country.
“It’s gratifying to see the number of alumni that we’ve had go through that program that really made a difference for them in their lives and careers.”
Since the program’s inception in 2009, more than 250 superintendents from across Canada have taken part in the event.
The program has since been administered by Syngenta’s Ryan Beauchamp and has expanded to include “Assistant Superintendent University.”
“Where else would superintendents and assistants have the opportunity to attend the Ivey Business School for a customized curriculum on the business of golf?”
Throughout her career, Thorne travelled from Newfoundland to Vancouver Island, meeting and developing relationships with numerous golf superintendents, assistants and spray technicians. She would often be taken to areas on golf courses where problems growing grass existed.
“I enjoyed the on-site golf course troubleshooting, problem solving and consulting.”
In a typical year, business travel kept her away from home for more than six months, including a top-heavy first quarter made up of industry conferences, presentations, retailer meetings and consultations with superintendents.
“That afforded me the opportunity to meet some great people,” she said, adding she had no regrets about the need for travel, although she confessed it became a little more strenuous with age and changes in time zones. “It was a great run, an absolutely great run, and the bonus is all the great relationships I’ve nurtured right across the country.”
Thorne said she often thought how interesting it would have been for her to pursue a career as a golf superintendent. As a woman, she said she considers herself a bit of a pioneer or trailblazer for women in the business because there weren’t many in the industry for most of her career.
She said she feels privileged to have helped as many superintendents as she did and feels she has earned their respect. Among the challenges she said she faced during her career were the various diseases that sometimes threw superintendents “for a loop,” adding it could be challenging sometimes for superintendents to keep their grass alive.
“If you are surrounded by great people who are very passionate about what they do, that without a doubt is the highlight because there is a lot of personal gratification in knowing a lot of wonderful people across the country.”
Although Thorne worked in the chemical industry for her entire career, she
Marie Thorne with Syngenta colleagues David Kuypers, left, and Ryan Beauchamp.
looks at it from another perspective.
“I’ve never really thought of myself being in the chemical business. I’ve been in the business of making superintendents look good. It’s was a different motivator from within my heart to really want that superintendent to look good in the eyes of his membership or his owners or board or greens chairman.”
During her final months at Syngenta, she helped find and groom her successor. Taking over her position is Jason Steadwell who had been sales manager at Even-Spray & Chemicals Ltd. in Winnipeg and had worked with Thorne previously for nine years.
She was originally slated to retire at the end of April, but Steadwell wasn’t hired until the early part of that month.
“I deeply wanted Jason to be successful, so I extended my time for an extra three months to give Jason the time to transition properly.”
Together, they went on a three-month road trip to Western Canada so that Steadwell could meet Thorne’s contacts in that par t of the country and it gave her the chance to say goodbye to her business colleagues. Previously, she travelled to
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Atlantic Canada in the first quarter to help turfgrass specialist Scott White transition to that area.
When news of Thorne’s retirement was made public, accolades poured in from superintendents across the country, with whom she had the privilege of working throughout her career. She was granted honourary lifetime memberships in the British Columbia, Manitoba, Ontario and Atlantic golf superintendents associations and was given special recognition at the Alberta Property Managers and Canadian Golf Superintendents Association conferences.
‘It was a great run, and the bonus is all the great relationships I’ve nurtured right across the country’
Are you prepared for the season?
During her final weeks at Syngenta, she worked on some new product launches that are scheduled for 2019 and helped with the redesign of the company’s GreenCast website.
Looking ahead to her retirement years, Thorne said she might take measures to improve her golf game. But she added her trained eye to spot inconsistencies on golf course turf could interfere with her concentration on the game itself.
“It would be weird not to make a note on the scorecard to let the superintendent know if I saw some fungus brewing out there. Not sure if I can ever simply concentrate on making the putt with all that grass to observe.”
Her retirement plans also include some travel for which she plans to budget for one trip of significance each year. China and England are among the destinations at the top of her list.
Marie Thorne with Jeff Stauffer, superintendent at Rosedale Golf Club in Oshawa, Ont.
Regular maintenance equals longer life
Artificial turf is not maintenance-free, contrary to popular belief, and can live past its projected lifespan if properly looked after. By
Mike Jiggens
Regular and proper maintenance of artificial turf sports fields can extend their lifespans another three to four years, giving municipalities a much greater return on their investment.
Mark Klementti, principal/consultant at RK & Associates in Barrie, Ont., a firm specializing in the design, specification, tender and project management for artificial turf sports fields, said some of the synthetic fields in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) have had to be replaced prematurely because they weren’t being properly or regularly maintained.
“We’ve replaced fields in Ontario that are nine and 10 years old because the maintenance is not being done,” he told an audience of sports turf managers attending Sports Turf Canada’s annual Ontario field day at Belleville’s Mary-Anne Sills Park in September.
Klementti cited the artificial field at Mary-Anne Sills Park as an example of how
regular maintenance can give synthetic playing surfaces a longer life when they are routinely maintained.
“You never walk onto a natural field or even the artificial turf field here and see that there are issues with it. They’re always maintaining them. This field is 10 years old. It’s two years over the warranty. It’s in incredibly good condition, considering the usage that it gets. That’s due to the maintenance team here in Belleville.”
He said the city’s commitment to regular maintenance dispels an oft-heard myth about artificial turf.
“The belief is that artificial turf is maintenance-free and it absolutely, 100 per cent is not maintenance-free.”
Prior to his address at the field day, Klementti conducted a few tests on the park’s artificial playing surface. He said that when the field was first installed 10 years ago, its fibre depth was 55 millimetres. The depth today is 38 millimetres, giving the field another four years of potential use before
it needs to be replaced. A measurement of the field’s infill depth also fell within acceptable parameters.
A study he conducted three months ago on nine artificial fields in the GTA found their fibre depths had eroded to 24 or 25 millimetres due to irregular or improper maintenance. Klementti said infill wasn’t being added as needed and groomers were run over the fields only sporadically.
Belleville’s field is one of the bigger success stories in artificial turf installations, he said, adding a critical mistake was almost made when it was originally designed for the park.
“Ten years ago we were asked to design and manage the installation of an artificial turf field here at the park. We met with the city and the local stakeholders and, within three or four weeks of starting the design, they came to us and said, ‘Why are you taking our best natural field and turning it into an artificial turf field?’”
Klementti said there was logic in their
Dr. Eric Lyons, right, of the University of Guelph, explains the use of a Clegg hammer to test the surface hardness of the artificial turf field at Belleville’s Mary-Anne Sills Park. Among those looking on is Mark Klementti (black jacket) of RK & Associates, who spoke earlier about proper synthetic turf maintenance.
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argument, and another site at the park was sought. The alternate site eventually chosen was essentially a waste area littered with rocks and stumps. In hindsight, he said the correct decision was made in order to preserve a pristine natural turf playing field.
“Artificial turf should and will never, ever take away or take over from natural turf fields,” he said.
Synthetic fields have their place, however, and can be a significant asset to municipalities that wish to maximize their sports programming, Klementti said.
COST COMPARISONS
When comparing the cost of construction of a category two or three natural field to that of an artificial turf field over a period of five years, the natural field will be a lot less expensive to build and maintain, he said. But over a period of 12 to 14 years – when the lifespan of an artificial turf field reaches its maximum – the synthetic field will have cost less over that period and can feasibly realize 30 to 40 per cent more usage than the natural field.
Klementti said cities such as Belleville will find that during their shoulder seasons – or even during a wet July –they can temporarily shut down some of their natural fields to allow them to regenerate while permitting play to continue on an artificial turf surface. Many municipalities in North America, he said, seek to have one artificial turf field for every five natural fields so that programs can be devised that allow the natural fields to close for a week to 10 days for recovery without inconveniencing user groups.
Municipalities considering the installation of an artificial turf field must know what they want from a performance, maintenance and durability standpoint, he said.
“How long do you want it to last?”
The decision-making process requires the collective input of the municipality or school board, the local user groups and the maintenance team. Klementti said budget is usually the deciding factor in determining the type of field desired.
“Budget will also drive the decision from the standpoint of what level of durability do you want.”
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Using the artificial turf field at Mary-Anne Sills Park as an example, he said the field wouldn’t meet the specifications of a professional soccer team. The field was designed as a multi-sport surface that needed to be high in durability, low in maintenance and yet meet high usage demands.
“The difference between maintaining a field like this and maintaining a high performance artificial turf soccer pitch would be that on this field there would be about 70 hours of usage that you’re out here grooming, whereas on a high performance soccer pitch you’re probably grooming about every 30 to 40 hours of usage.”
Klementti said that depending on what the municipality does on its artificial turf fields will determine the level of maintenance required.
Attention to detail must be given top priority to ensure the municipality or school board gets what is specified and paid for, he said.
Longing for longevity
Making snow blades last for years to come.
By Ryan Frey
It’s not that hard to walk into a dealership, take a look around, and pick out one of the least expensive snow blades. It’s new. It’s made to move snow. And, the price seems reasonable.
It’s harder to know if that shiny good deal will pay off in the long run. Sure, it’ll get a new contractor into the snow removal business or add to a contractor’s existing fleet – and it’ll likely do a good job to begin with. But, how long will it last before another bargain blade needs to be purchased? And how much downtime might there be if components aren’t made for the rigors of the elements?
While there’s no easy answer, there are a number of factors that will help a forward-focused snow removal contractor lengthen their blade life. From blade choice to preventative maintenance to operator training, it all helps extend a blade’s lifespan and, as a result, provides better return on investment.
Before the buy
It all begins with matching the plow to the carrier. While it may be tempting for a contractor who just bought a new carrier to save money by using a blade already in his fleet, he could be putting efficiency and longevity at risk. Using a bigger carrier than recommended for a blade will cause stress fractures and cracks in the blade, significantly shortening its life. Meanwhile, using a carrier that’s not big enough for the blade can’t maximize
the blade’s potential.
Beyond finding the right match, some blade features and components are simply better engineered and built to withstand harsh day-to-day conditions and last longer than others. Choosing a new or even used blade with such features will lead to years of use with little downtime.
Carbide edges are a prime example. While they cost about four times more than steel edges, they can last as much as seven times longer, which means fewer replacements and, in turn, less downtime. If a contractor goes through two sets of steel edges in a season, a carbide edge will last more than three seasons. That’s a half-dozen fewer stints of downtime to replace the edges, coupled with 43 per cent savings over those seasons in product cost.
That savings multiplies when compared to rubber or polyurethane edges. These softer materials may fare OK on smaller, lighter-duty blades and are even required for some applications, such as airport runway jobs, but for clearing large parking lots or roadways, they are impractical. Rubber and poly wear faster than steel and much faster than carbide even when lubricated in wet conditions. In cold, dry areas, rubber gets brittle and wears down even faster over dry pavement.
When it comes to cutting edges, carbide isn’t the only feature that contributes to longer wear life. Reversible edges that can easily be flipped and replaced will double the edges’ useful life.
Be sure to use the appropriate down pressure and speed. Excessive down pressure will quickly wear out cutting edges and when paired with faster speeds can cause significant blade damage when hitting an obstacle hidden under the snow.
Material type matters beyond the cutting edges, too. The thicker the blade’s steel, the heavier duty it is, but there’s a caveat: more steel means more weight and thus more strain on the carrier or the need for a larger carrier. Some manufacturers combat this by using steel that offers the right balance between steel gauge, weight and abrasion resistance. Choose blades with cutting edges that are made with steel that has abrasion resistant properties of AR400 or better. This will ensure a long wear life without a significant weight increase. Blades that incorporate steel tube frames also better resist flexing, helping the blade last longer.
Threats to a blade’s wear life also lurk beneath the snow, as it’s inevitable the blade will hit something hidden below. While best known for improving productivity, segmented blades that trip over obstacles will lessen damage. To get the longest life from these trip edges, look for a model that connects the panels with parallel steel linkages rather than polyurethane block systems. Parallel systems keep the moldboard properly aligned during use, eliminating the risk of damage when piling and stacking snow.
Hydraulic systems also can make or break – literally – a good
ROI. The simpler the hydraulic system, the less it should cost to maintain and the longer it should last since there are fewer cylinders and pins to wear or break and need replacement over the life of the blade.
Maintaining for the future
Besides hydraulic system simplicity, regular visual inspections of the system go a long way in getting the best life out of a snow blade. Check the hydraulic lines and linkages daily, looking for wear, cracks and loose connections. Sure, it’s probably not feasible or even the first thing on an operator’s mind when heading out at 2 a.m., but it should at least be done at the end of a shift.
If a hydraulic line does come loose, it can get caught in the carrier or pinched or cut by the blade. What could have been a minute spent checking and tightening the line becomes a more time-intensive process to repair or replace the line. Not only is that downtime unnecessary and undesirable, but, Murphy’s Law says it’ll happen in the middle of a big snowstorm. Even less dramatic damage, such as cracks in hydraulic hoses, can lead to significant downtime if left unchecked since hose chafing caus-
es leaks and leaks cause component failure.
Maintaining a regular schedule of greasing a blade’s moving parts also adds to the product’s life. Check the owner’s manual for recommended grease points and set a schedule so it’s not forgotten. Be sure to choose grease with an adequate cold rating as well as strong moisture-repellent qualities. It’s common knowledge that snow melts, and if that water gets into areas lacking lubrication, it can seize a blade’s moving parts. If components lock up, maintenance time increases exponentially.
While it’s important to keep moving parts moving, it’s just as essential to keep stationary parts stationary. Regularly check a blade’s parts and fasteners, ensuring they’re tight and in place. Pay special attention to bolts along a blade’s cutting edge. Blade operation causes vibration and stress, which can loosen bolts. If a loose bolt isn’t spotted and tightened, it may shear off when going over a manhole cover or other obstacle, requiring the operator to stop and make repairs.
For the best blade life, annual maintenance checks – whether at the beginning or end of the season –should be done. Before storing a blade for the summer or taking it out in the fall, thoroughly clean the equipment. Once cleaned, it will be easier to spot issues, from loose parts to cracks. Tighten parts where feasible and replace others, as needed. Whether completely worn or not, some parts benefit from annual replacements, and changing them will ensure greater uptime during the peak snow-removal season. Swap out skid shoes annually, for example, and replace the cutting edge, if needed. Using OEM parts and keeping backups handy not only increases uptime, it lessens the risk of using a less-than-optimal replacement in a time pinch and ending up with damage.
When inspecting the cleaned blade, also look for areas where the paint is scratched or worn. Use custom-matched spray paint from a manufacturer or dealer to cover any damage. While this goes a long way in terms of resale value it also helps prevent rust, prolonging blade life.
To get the longest life from a segmented blade’s trip edges, look for a model that connects the panels with parallel steel linkages rather than polyurethane block systems.
Drive toward longevity
Getting the most use from a blade isn’t just in the selection and upkeep. Correct operation also has an impact.
Intuitively, the faster something goes, the quicker the task will be accomplished. That’s not the case with snow removal, though. Rather than finishing the job faster, excessive speed often results in blade damage. Similarly, strong down pressure may seem to be the best way to scrape a road right to the surface, but that, too, can backfire. Excess pressure causes premature wear, especially on cutting edges. Plus, the combination of down pressure and speed will cause damage since something will inevitably be hidden under the snow and, when hit with extra speed and pressure, will be more likely to damage the blade.
Operators also should avoid angling the snow blade forward. While doing this can occasionally clean the surface better, long-term use will be detrimental. Manufacturers design blades to be used perpendicular to the ground, so tipping the top forward will wear cutting edges and blade wings faster than if used properly.
Call in backup
When longevity is needed, customer support is key. The more experience a manufacturer brings to the design and engineering process, the more likely their products withstand long-term use.
Additionally, a manufacturer that backs its products with a favorable warranty is more confident in how it will hold up. Look for a product that will be supported at least through its first couple of years. That way, if something goes wrong, there’s no stress in getting a fast replacement. More often than not, though, the longer the warranty, the less worry there will be of a breakdown.
When it comes to making a snow blade last, there’s more to consider than purchase price. From the buying process to day-to-day use, the right choices and actions add up to a blade ready to go the distance season after season.
When it comes to cutting edges, carbide isn’t the only feature that contributes to longer wear life
Ryan Frey is general manager at Horst Welding in Listowel, Ont. Horst Welding has been manufacturing equipment solutions for the snow removal and agricultural markets for more than 20 years. Its HLA brand of snow removal equipment is one of the most extensive snow removal product lines on the market. The HLA brand includes the two-in-one SnowWing blade as well as snow blades, snow pushers, sixway blades, fixed V-blades, snow buckets and baskets and the ScatterShot salt and sand spreader. The line also includes the Razor blade – a floating, segmented blade for clean results over variable height pavements. For more information, visit www.hlasnow.com or www.horstwelding.com.
Expect a road salt shortage this winter
Landscape contractors may have to find alternatives to keep surfaces safe.
Landscape contractors who offer ice and snow removal services for their customers each winter in Ontario may feel the pinch in costlier salt supplies as a result of a summer labour dispute at the world’s largest salt mine in Goderich, Ont.
Due to a since resolved strike among workers at the Goderich Sifto mine, salt supplies are low. Complicating matters are a reduced capacity at another large mine and depleted stockpiles after the spring’s late season ice storm.
The eastern United States is also affected by the inventory shortage as much of what is mined in Goderich is exported south of the border.
The salt shortage has forced landscape contractors to devise ways to help their customers cope with the upcoming winter season in a safe manner.
Salt producers are allocating limited supplies first to municipalities. According to Landscape Ontario, private snow and ice removal contractors will have difficulty securing salt to service customer properties, leading to higher prices.
A scramble is currently taking place for salt supplies to be secured from other continents. Rock salt is also being imported from other locations overseas, including Morocco, Egypt and Chile, as well as other areas within North America. The cost of transportation involved in sourcing salt from other parts of the world is likely to double the price.
The alternative salt sources may not make up the current inventory shortfall, and some contractors may have no salt if supplies are depleted quickly in the event of a severe winter.
Landscape Ontario has advised contractors to work with property owners and managers to devise ways to deal with the inventory shortage. LO member contractors are approaching the challenge with a multi-pronged strategy that has safety in mind and involves both technology and best management practices.
The approach includes enhanced documentation and equipment calibration, the efficient and effective use of salt, and working with customers to eliminate non-essential areas from service to conserve salt supplies.
Some contractors have requested their customers pre-pay for salt to secure inventory. Non-salt-based products used to manage
snow and ice is also part of the arsenal.
Stepped up training is being conducted by contractors so that their teams are aware of the shortage situation and will hone their skills to promote top efficiency in snow fighting.
Among Landscape Ontario’s suggestions for contractors to better prepare for winter in light of the salt shortage are:
• Speak with suppliers to understand their situation.
• Explore alternative ice melting products such as beet juice.
• Contemplate mixing supplies with sand or other material.
• Protect yourself contractually if possible. LO members can use a standard form snow and ice maintenance contract that can be found online at https://horttrades.com/snow-contracts
• Communicate with customers to appraise them of what to expect.
Landscape Ontario suggests cooperative strategies are the key to achieve safety during the shortage, and contractors are working towards minimizing their customers’ risks this winter.
Supplies of road salt will be low in Ontario this winter, due to a prolonged strike among salt miners.
Innovation keeps dust under control
Installation of water cannons on Moncton ball diamonds also enhances playability.
By Mike Jiggens
Better infield dust control and improved playability are the result of water cannons having been installed at all 10 ball diamonds at Moncton, N.B.’s CN Sportplexe. The completely skinned infields were notorious for the amount of dust that would be kicked up by the prevailing winds that negatively affected the way the game was played.
“The players are a lot happier that they don’t have to play in the dust because this place turns into a dust bowl when it’s windy,” CN Sportplexe caretaker Gorden Horsman said. “It’s a lot easier to maintain our infields and keep them moist.”
The idea of installing water cannons at the ball diamonds originated about four years ago when Horsman was talking with
Gord Dol, president of Bond Head, Ont.based Dol Turf Restoration Ltd., who suggested water cannons for moisture control was worth considering.
Horsman decided to experiment with the cannons, realizing they solved the problem of keeping dust in check, and they were finally installed last year. Selling the idea to the city to free up the necessary funding, however, wasn’t quite as easy at first.
“I showed our director the experimental heads and his comment was, ‘Very good idea. Go ahead.’”
Funding was provided from the city’s capital budget and didn’t affect Horsman’s budget year.
Prior to the cannons’ installation, the skinned infields at the complex’s ball
diamonds were hand-watered.
“It used to take four or five guys to go around and water them by hand. Now, we have the ability to use two guys. One guy is at the pump and one guy is at the field – for safety reasons – so that nobody is on the infield when we water. That’s why we have the valves. We just tell everybody to stand by, we water it and back on the field they go.”
When the infields were manually watered – one at a time – the crew of four or five individuals would move on to the next field, but found by the time they were finished with the final field, the first diamond at the complex needed watering again.
Horsman said as far as he knows, Moncton is the only municipality in the prov-
A water cannon is positioned behind the pitcher’s mound at a diamond at the CN Sportplexe in Moncton.
ince to have installed water cannons on its ball fields, adding many communities don’t even have irrigation on their fields.
“We’re lucky we have all the infrastructure for irrigation, so we just tied into the lines that existed. We really didn’t have to do a lot of work other than to tie into the lines. We dug down an extra three feet and used a pea stone to create a dry well under the head so when we turned the head off, the water would go down and not pool on the area.”
The 10 ball diamonds were already outfitted with about 300 heads in total to irrigate the turf outfield.
‘I was getting tired of watering down fields and then having to go right back and do it all over again’
The water cannons were supplied by Dartmouth, N.S.-based Irri Plus Inc. and installed by PE Irrigation. The cannons, positioned behind the pitching mounds, shoot water out about 100 feet in a single throw. They provide full coverage of the skinned infields – an area of about 25,000 square feet – in three to four minutes. The cannons put out 55 gallons per minute with a pump pressure of 70 pounds per square inch.
“I was getting tired of spending so much time watering down fields and then turning around and having to go right back and do it all over again within an hour.”
The cannons are operated manually with the two-person operation completing one field at a time.
Horsman said keeping the skinned areas moist allows for better grooming and playability. When incorporating products to condition the infield, the diamonds become professional looking, he said.
“We’ve seen a lot less dust movement,” he said, adding about 90 per cent of the game is played on the infield.
The high water volume has no adverse effect on drainage. Most of the infield drainage is surface drainage, with a 1.67 per cent slope from centre. The sandbased outfield already promotes good
drainage, Horsman said.
An additional three cannons have also been installed at the Hal Betts softball fields in Moncton.
The CN Sportplexe covers 95 acres of land at the former site of a Canadian National Railway repair facility that had re -
gressed into a brownfield from the late 1980s through the late 1990s. In addition to the ball diamonds, the facility also includes six soccer fields, four indoor ice rinks and an air-filled dome that accommodates indoor soccer, football, paintball and golf.
Snow Blowers
…for big-time power to clear more snow, faster!
REIST Two-Stage Snow Blowers built to work with heavy-duty equipment
• Heavy duty augers are driven through self-deicing sprockets
• Large diameter 6 blade fan
• Available in 9 ft. & 10 ft. widths with many factory-installed options
REIST Single-Stage Snow Throwers draw 20% less power than 2-stage
• High-efficiency design for smaller tractors, skid steers and telehandlers (>15 HP)
• Models for PTO and hydraulic drives
• Auger diameters 16” to 30” …for a big throw on small machines!
Bucket allows efficient separation of rock and debris from soil New stuff
Used primarily to separate rocks and large debris from soil and sand, Cat® Skeleton Buckets feature heavy duty construction and find application in a number of industries, including agriculture,
construction, land clearing, demolition, landscaping, and scrap handling.
Designed for use with skid steer loaders, multi-terrain loaders, compact track loaders, and compact wheel loaders, Cat
Skeleton Buckets incorporate a number of structural elements that ensure efficient operation and long-term durability. In basic construction, Cat Skeleton Buckets use heavy steel rods, 1.25 inches (31.75 mm) in diameter on 3.75-inch (95-mm) centres, to form the floor and back of the bucket. Thick plates with rectangular openings form the sides of the bucket, and a rectangular frame, fabricated of heavy duty steel and incorporating two steel plate rock dams, strengthens the back of the bucket. The rock dams serve to retain material, reducing spillage and increasing production.
For added durability, steel gussets are welded between the outermost rods in the bucket floor and the sides of the bucket. The forward ends of the rods in the bucket floor are secured in a heavy-duty support beam positioned between (and welded to) the bucket sides. This beam not only provides support, but allows the bucket to also be used for grading. Welded to the forward tips of the rods and support beam are heavy steel tines that enhance breakout force by initially separating rock and debris from soil more effectively than could a solid cutting edge.
For more information, visit www.cat.com.
V-plow Guard System comes to contractor market
As part of its initiative to bring its commercial solutions to the contractor market, Winter Equipment is announcing the launch of its V-Plow Guard system. The complete system features steel blades, centre and outer PlowGuards, hardware and installation instructions.
All steel is reinforced with winter carbide matrix hard facing weld, increasing blade efficiency, while also reducing damage from rough roads and unseen obstructions. Additionally, the PlowGuards and blade work in tandem to protect and reduce uneven and premature wear, eliminating in-season blade changes and greatly reducing downtime.
“V-Plows have significantly increased the quality and efficiency of small
independent plow operations, as well as allowing one vehicle to work in multiple situations,” Kent Winter, founder and CEO, Winter Equipment, said. “A plow that is broken or damaged is a plow that’s not making its owner any revenue, and in a one-plow operation, that’s fatal.
Our V-Plow Guard system can pay for itself in just a couple seasons with greater uptime, while increasing efficiency because of our superior design and attack angle.”
The V-Plow Guard system is currently compatible with Western, Fisher and SnowEx plow models. Plans for additional models are currently underway.
Winter Equipment, a leader in premium cutting edges and innovative wear parts for the snow removal and
road maintenance equipment industry, has nearly 30 years of experience in providing solutions to the industry. With 17 patents, Winter brings technology and engineering processes from other industries and combines them with application and process know-how to create products that wear longer, reduce downtime and provide value with longer life.
For more information on Winter and its products, visit www.winterequipment.com.
Ad Index
Ont.Turf.Aer.:Layout
Oscillating skid steer mount enhances scraping performance
Snow-Ex has introduced on oscillating skid steer mount for its heavy-duty and Speedwing™ snowplows. The mount contributes to better scraping performance and less wear on the plow’s cutting edge, and it can quickly be attached to any brand or style of skid steer loader.
The new skid-steer mount provides six degrees of side-to-side oscillation, which allows the blade to follow the contours of the pavement for a cleaner scrape. The oscillating mount works with both SnowEx HD straight blade ploughs –with blade widths ranging from seven feet, six inches to nine feet – and the Speedwing, which boasts the added productivity and efficiency of automatically adjusting mechanical wings.
A total of five SnowEx snowplow models are compatible with skid steer loaders, allowing users to leverage their machine’s onboard hydraulic system for efficient plowing applications. The plows are quick to install and easy to operate. Additional standard features of the snowplows include a full-trip moldboard, attachment plate with 10-degree forward slope, half-inch by six-inch steel cutting edge, and a Powercoat paint finish.
SnowEx Snow and Ice Control Equipment is part of Douglas Dynamics, a leading North American manufacturer of vehicle attachments and equipment. For more than 70 years, the company has been innovating products to enable people to perform their jobs more efficiently and effectively and helping businesses to increase profitability. For more information, visit www.snowexproducts.com.
It almost pains me to write about this in a publication read by golf course superintendents, but a recent poll of more than 1,000 Americans suggests that a certain game involving a set of clubs, a ball and 18 holes is the dullest sport to watch and the one that’s best to cure insomnia.
Can you believe it? What blasphemy! Golf – a sleep aid?
This poll was conducted on behalf of Calm, a company that provides access to a downloadable series of guided meditation apps designed to promote better sleep.
According to the numbers, golf was the most sleep-inducing sport to watch by a country mile. In fact, a whopping 49 per cent of respondents said golf was the one to watch if sleep deprivation was ever an issue. Runner-up to golf as an insomnia cure was cricket at only 13 per cent.
C ricket? Honestly, how many Americans watch cricket on TV, or have ever watched it played? Where in the U.S. were these people polled?
In ascending order, the other sleep-inducing sports named were baseball, soccer, tennis, track and field, U.S. football, basketball, lacrosse and hockey. Hockey, understandably, was viewed as the most exciting of the sports named and – at only two per cent – the one least likely to put anyone to sleep.
I would demand a recount on the results of this survey conducted by the pollster eNation. According to recent Nielson ratings, TV viewership
of PGA Tour events in which Tigers Woods is in contention to win on the weekend is the highest ever since he’s come back from oblivion. Nielson ratings don’t take into account whether viewers are awake or asleep during the shows they are supposedly watching, but if Woods is in contention, it would suggest the vast majority of them are wide awake and soaking in the action.
Is anyone able to watch cricket on U.S. television? It’s certainly not covered by any of the major broadcast networks, and if any of the cable sports channels are airing cricket, only a fraction of one per cent of American viewers will be tuned in.
I’ve actually mustered the courage to watch cricket, albeit on YouTube because that’s about the only platform on which it can be seen. It’s a bizarre game that can take days to play, and that’s only for one match! What other sport exists that sees its players take a break for tea? Seriously? And what’s up with the canoe paddles they use to swat the ball?
Cricket is essentially a sissified version of baseball that makes curling seem like a rollicking thrill ride. Curling, inci-
dentally, didn’t make the list, nor did lawn bowling or darts. If you really want to cure your insomnia, watch these sports.
But how can 49 per cent of respondents suggest that watching golf is the gateway to a better sleep? Golf is exciting. What other sport allows celebrities to play alongside professionals in an actual sanctioned event? What other sport sees the ball propelled as hard and as long?
If it were up to me, I would recommend to someone wishing to cure his insomnia via sports to tune into a basketball game. Ever since I was a kid, I’ve compared basketball to watching paint dry. I find it monotonous to watch one team enter the other team’s zone, shoot at the basket and then retreat into its own zone to defend against its opponent whose strategy is to do the same thing. The scenario repeats itself ad nauseam until the clock runs out.
Snore! Just be sure to hit the mute button so that the teeth-grinding sound of 10 pairs of sneakers squeaking on the floor doesn’t keep you awake.
Of the four major team sports, hockey and basketball
bear the most resemblance to one another. But the excitement level of one is off the scale while the other barely has a pulse. When a foul/penalty is committed in hockey, the offending player sits in a penalty box for two minutes while his team plays a man short. The excitement level builds while the team with the man advantage peppers the defending team with a barrage of shots. In basketball, the offending player remains on the court while the other team gets a free shot at an empty net. Yawn!
And why, after losing the ball in the offensive zone, does the defending basketball team retreat to its own end? Fore-checking works wonders in hockey. You’d think they’d at least try it in basketball. Maybe then you’d have more palatable final scores of perhaps 60-58 instead of 114-110.
There are other televised sports that stand a much better chance at putting insomniac viewers to sleep. Take motorsports, for example. Watching cars going round a track can be mesmerizing, often leading to heavy eyelids. It’s only the anticipation of an on-track accident that gives the sport any appeal, as far as I’m concerned.
But the king of sleep-inducing sports – if you can even call this a sport – is televised poker. But if it’s a cure for insomnia you’re looking for by w ay of watching televised sports, you can’t lose with poker, basketball or even cricket if you can find it. Golf, though, isn’t the answer – at least not among the readers of this publication.
Rod Perry, aka Duffer, is a Niagara-based freelance writer.
“The Aftermath.” The full fury of Hurricane Matthew did not really impact the turf at the University of Central Florida in Orlando until November 2016. With three home games rescheduled in cool weather and at least 12 quarters of football to play, the turf team had to come off the ball fast. Contact your local dealer or visit JohnDeere.ca/Sportsturf to get John Deere on your team.
