the Fate of Field Paspalum Control - The Paginator

PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE
WHAT A
SPRING,
and What We Accomplished!
What a spring we have had!! Back in March, the owner of a lawncare
company called me to ask, “What the heck is going on? Why am I
having to treat dandelions way before I am even thinking of applying
pre-emergent herbicides for summer annual grass control? This certainly is not
a normal spring.”
Hmmm… a “normal” spring. I am not sure I remember or even know what
a normal spring is anymore. I have been working in turfgrass for 37 years and
cannot remember two springs being the same. We have all chosen to live and
work here in the center of the “transition zone” where our climate is not fit for
any grass to grow without professional help, which keeps us all in business. I
still remember the first two sentences uttered at the beginning of my first turfgrass
class at the University of Maryland many years ago. Dr. Jack Hall started
the class by saying, “If you can professionally manage turfgrass in Maryland for
five years and keep your job, you can work anywhere in the United States.” He
also commented, “The best grass in Maryland is green concrete.” Thank goodness
we have such a dedicated group of professionals who are determined to
make turfgrass not only survive but flourish.
Not only are we constantly battling Mother Nature, but we often have to
battle the knuckleheads in Annapolis and the federal EPA — both think turfgrass
is the root of all evil and is the cause for the ruination of the Chesapeake Bay.
I am not convinced they all think turfgrass is this ultimate polluter. I think some
are just lazy and think turfgrass is an easy target because it is made up of a
bunch of little companies running around competing with each other. Little did
they know that these little companies have a big umbrella watching over them,
and that umbrella is called the MTC.
This legislative year, Delegates Hubbard, Babe and Clagett and Delegates
Braveboy, Frush, Penna-Melnyk, Wood and Glenn decided to sponsor The Fertilizer
Use Act (HB 573). This was part of the answer to the EPA to show that
Maryland was making strides to meet the EPA’s arbitrary standards for nitrogen
and phosphorus loads entering the Chesapeake Bay. I say arbitrary because
neither the EPA’s standards nor the proposed Maryland legislation were based
upon sound scientific bases but instead were being driven mostly by politics.
Fortunately, organizations like RISE and the MTC follow legislation that will
affect any of our members. A special thanks must go out to Mark Schlossberg
(a former MTC president), Rick LaNore (also a former MTC president and a
current board member) and others
who spent hours and days testifying
before legislative committees, meeting
with individual state Senators and
Delegates, sending emails to keep us
all informed and leading letter-writing,
email and phone campaigns, all in
order to develop legislation with
some semblance of common sense.
The essence of this legislation is
probably best explained by Mark
Schlossberg, president of Pro-Lawn-
Plus, Inc./M.A.G.I. (MD Assoc. of
Green Industries, Inc.), in an email
after the last session of the General
Assembly on April 11, 2011:
The Fertilizer Use Act was passed
tonight in the Maryland General
Assembly on the final day of the
session as HB 573. Though this
bill will cost our industry some
money and change the way we do
business somewhat, I feel like the
adjustments we have to make will
not jeopardize our businesses and
golf courses. And the fact that we
now will have fertilizer pre-emption
means that we won’t have to worry
about local jurisdictions making
their own fertilizer laws. We were
able to get the final date for fall
N and P applications extended to
December 1st. We’ll still be able
to apply K and limestone between
6 MTC TURF NEWS