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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
December 1st and March 1st. We were able to get allowances for controlled-release nitrogen at higher rates and an exemption for organic fertilizer P applications. From my understanding of the bills, the certification/training portion will take effect in October 2012, and the date restrictions will not take place until the fall of 2013. I will get more clarification and details from the Department over the next few weeks, and I’m sure this will be discussed in the training sessions UMD puts on in the fall and winter. One final note: one of the reasons we supported this legislation was that we as an industry wanted to get the message out to some of our allies — like the farm community, soil-conservation people and the general public — that we are willing to do our part. We might not feel that the changes required in the bill will help the Bay. Now, though, we will be able to say that we are willing to contribute to the reduction of N and P output. I want to thank everyone who came to Annapolis for meetings, called and emailed legislators, acquiesced on issues that they really didn’t want to, etc. I feel our support of this legislation will help us immensely in the future when there are bills introduced that we oppose. I guess time will tell. Fortunately, the enforcement of this legislation will be the Department of Agriculture, which with the University of Maryland must develop a training and certification program for “certified applicators.” The MTC will work with the Department of Agriculture to develop and present as much information as possible at our January Turfgrass Conference. Stand by — more is to come! Vernon W. Cooper MTC President SUMMER 2011 7
Page 1: MANAGING SUMMER DECLINE in Creeping
Page 5: MARYLAND TURFGRASS COUNCIL 12 Press
Page 9 and 10: stocks on golf courses after Decemb
Page 11 and 12: continued • TURF TALK 27, June 11
Page 13 and 14: Fusilade II may be a viable alterna
Page 16 and 17: APPLIED RESEARCH 16 MTC TURF NEWS
Page 18 and 19: APPLIED RESEARCH • continued Fert
Page 20: APPLIED RESEARCH • continued cont
Page 23 and 24: to 9.4) on May 13 (Table 1). Echelo
Page 25 and 26: MTC Membership Application ________
Page 27 and 28: turf, 8.0 = minimal acceptable qual
Page 30: TURF INDUSTRY CALENDAR OF EVENTS IN

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