By Lou Newman, Regional Manager

Most companies avoid trouble, shy away from challenges and eschew difficult situations. NOT US! You always thought Nature Safe was kind of…well, different. We are and we’re proud of it.

Every course has trouble spots, and we want you to try us as the remedy. Let’s take a look at some problems that are common to many courses that should be looked at as opportunities for Nature Safe.

Greens: Sure, they need special attention and can make or break a course (or a superintendent’s career!). After aeration, greens are tender and fickle and need to be handled carefully. They are vulnerable to distress from moisture, heat, wind and disease. Nature Safe has built its reputation on providing nutrition to tender roots. Our slow release formulations do not dump fertilizer, so damaged roots can heal and grow without having to worry about burn or leaching. A year-round program of Nature Safe on greens and tees builds strong roots that regenerate quickly after aeration without excessive top growth. Our protein base feeds beneficial soil microbes and gives them the upper hand on crowding out pathogens which can mean less disease and spraying of chemicals.

Tees: I don’t know about your golf game, but there are times when, by the time we get to the green, I may not even be in the hole anymore! So, while greens are crucial, tees are actually the most used and seen parts of any course. No matter how bad I play on a hole, and no matter how early I cry “Mea Culpa,” I always get to tee off on the next hole. Plus, tees can get more traffic in more concentrated areas than greens. So treat them as carefully as you do greens. Using Nature Safe year-round will build strong roots so grass withstands the foot traffic. And on par 3’s, divot marks heal over faster.

Practice tees: Talk about traffic and divot marks, practice tees get the worst. Do not overlook this vital area in a Nature Safe program. Even people who don’t play that day may visit the practice tee. Their impression of the course could well come from 30 minutes on the practice area. Three to four Nature Safe applications a year will let the area withstand the wear and tear a lot better.

New sod: Whether patching, re-working or planting new, Nature Safe is the perfect product for use on sod and seeded areas. Tender new roots can thrive without fear of burning. You’ll need to water for the plants to grow, but you will not have to water just to insure the fertilizer does not burn or build up. As Nature Safe breaks down and becomes available it feeds as the plant grows. No harsh salts build up. The fertilizer will lie in place until adequate moisture is available for the plant to grow, then it will release as needed. Large rain events will not leach away nutrition as can happen even with some high tech coated fertilizers. And while high temps will allow more microbe activity and make more of the Nature Safe nutrition available, it will reach a point of diminished activity – just like plants that start to shut down at extremely high temps. Even some of the best complex nitrogen products available can run into faster release under high temperatures meaning the nitrogen you paid for will be wasted and not able to be used by the plant.

Dry spots: Every course has dry spots and they can drive superintendents crazy. Some are due to construction missteps where too much top soil was taken off. Some can be the result of years of erosion. Some are too exposed to south facings of winter winds. Some are on steep inclines and drain so fast that they are hard to keep watered. Try recommending a combination of Nature Safe and a good wetting agent/surfactant. You can bucket mix Nature Safe with any granular wetting agent. Spread it carefully on the dry spots and be sure to provide adequate water at the correct rate. Repeated use in these spots will mean a softening of the ground. The Nature Safe will nurture healthy roots which help in water percolation leading to a better grass canopy. The improved canopy will further add to the softening and root penetration leading to less and less evidence of the dryness problems.

Shady areas: Great trees on a course add character, beauty and challenges. But along with that comes shade, whether on fairways, roughs or greens. Research shows that the concentrated protein characteristics of Nature Safe help build grass even in shady situations. Nature Safe promotes the growth, activity and population increase of soil microorganisms. As unicellular animals, soil microbes generate carbon dioxide as a by-product of respiration, just like more complex animals. This increase in CO2 means grasses can store more energy in their roots more efficiently. This magnifies the impact of sunlight during photosynthesis. This higher content of stored food is what the plant relies on during heavy shade periods. Grasses decline less and at a much slower rate meaning better coverage that can withstand more shade.

High traffic: Ever been on a golf course and seen the cart tracks that criss-cross the fairway, particularly next to a cart limit sign or past a curb that keeps you on the cart path? These high traffic areas can become hard packed and eventually dry spots. The answer is a strong, vibrant root system. As the canopy is degraded by traffic, only strong roots can regenerate top growth. Plus these roots help break up any subsurface pan that develops and allows water percolation. Nature Safe’s slower, yet programmable delivery of easily digestible proteins build the root strength that is required to offset the wear and tear from high traffic.

Bunker faces: Hard to cut, water and feed, bunker faces can be maintenance nightmares. Highly soluble fertilizers create soft, leaf tissue with overly aggressive leaf expansion and elongation. Using Nature Safe means fewer application operations, which are usually by hand, as well as less need to cut back unnecessary growth. Nature Safe will provide deep green color with far less maintenance requirements.

So next time you are presented with any of these issues, just remember, at Nature Safe we’re looking for trouble!

By Lou Newman, Regional Manager

I grew up in south Louisiana, where roots run deep into French culture. Many practices, customs and sayings have come to us from this French branch of our history. One custom in particular that survives in many forms is the practice of lagniappe (pronounced lan-yap). This means “a little something extra.”

For centuries French merchants (merchant, by the way, is a French word!) upon completion of a purchase (also French, well, you get the idea!), might throw in a little extra item for no additional charge. This was called “lagniappe.” It might be a piece of penny candy for the children, or an extra cookie or roll at the baker’s, or free extra laces for a pair of shoes. It was a thank you for doing business with them. And it created increased value to the buyer for the good or service.

You can still find that same sense of increased value with the sale and use of Nature Safe. No, we’re not giving away extra product, but you need to be aware that when using Nature Safe you are getting far more than the simple fertilizer analysis printed on the bag.

All fertilizers have to have guaranteed analysis. With almost all conventional fertilizers, and most other organic fertilizers, you get the N-P-K, and that’s it. Not so with Nature Safe. Sure you get the N-P-K, but what else comes with it?

Increased microbial action. Nature Safe, through the inclusion of simple sugars and carbohydrates, gives an immediate boost to the level of soil microorganism activity and population. This means faster and more pronounced response in plants that are feeding. The microbes make the analysis available so the plant can use it.

Increased soil organic matter content. Nature Safe, being primarily animal derived protein, leaves soil with more of the humus, wax, lignin and oil that comprise organic matter. The life of a soil relies on organic matter to capture nutrients and hold them for plant use, improve soil structure for better drainage and oxygen penetration, retain moisture and resist erosion.

Efficient and economical use of nutrition. Because Nature Safe is released through animal (microbes) action, availability decreases when temperatures are cool and increases when temperatures are warm. This is exactly how a plant responds to temperature. So the nutrition is available AS THE PLANT NEEDS IT! It doesn’t dump faster than the plant can use it in hot weather and it doesn’t run off during a rain storm in cool weather. It stays where you put it until biological processes make it available at basically the same relative rate that the plant grows. Is a fertilizer really cheaper if it runs into your retention pond before the grass can use it?

Repeatable and programmable performance. Many organics can vary in exact composition because they are collected, but not compounded. Nature Safe is made with the highest of standards of quality control, with raw material and finished product testing to insure specifications are met with each and every lot. You get a response you can count on every use, with no surprises when you least want them.

Suppression of disease and predatory nematodes. Yes, it’s a fertilizer, and we aren’t saying it can replace your pest and disease control, but studies show and users will tell you that regular use of Nature Safe can lower the incidence of many diseases and let you save some of your oh so tight budget on pesticides and their application. By feeding and maximizing the presence of beneficial microbes, you leave less room for pathogens to get established. You can find the studies listed on our website and you probably already know a user that is realizing the benefits of less chemical application.

Controlled growth. Because the nutrition in Nature Safe is available evenly over a long period, turf growth is consistent and broadly expressed. Phosphorus goes directly to cell elongation for longer leaves, stems and internodes. Nitrogen affects leaf expansion and size. If either, or both, are too rapidly available, in the presence of high amounts of available water, you get lots of succulent growth with low dry weight. This leads to mowing more often and production of larger amounts of clippings, with the resultant labor. If these elements are more slowly available, growth is better balanced throughout the plant, i.e., roots, stolons, and rhizomes as well as leaves and stems. Thicker turf, that has higher dry weight, makes a better playing surface, resists stress better and recovers faster from damage.

You can always count on the nutrition of Nature Safe and it’s the lagniappe that keep customers coming back for more.

By Ken Quandt, Regional Manager

The quality of a plot of turf grass is generally judged by visual characteristics such as color, uniformity, density, wear tolerance, heat tolerance and disease resistance. Those are all above ground characteristics that we can see and appreciate. But roots, the most important part of the plant, are rarely seen. As a result, many of us tend to overlook their importance until a lack of rooting starts to affect the above ground portions of the plant. Once that happens it is often too late to rapidly restore the plant to health.

Nature Safe has long been noted for the healthy turf it can produce and that healthy turf is a direct result of the increased root health. Some people assume this root health is simply a function of the even, consistent fertility supplied by the amino acids in Nature Safe. While that is certainly part of the reason for better roots, there is much more to the story.

The story starts with the chelated nutrients in Nature Safe that are more available to the plant than the standard chemical nutrients. Calcium is the most important. All of the calcium in Nature Safe comes from meat and bone meal. When this calcium is broken down by the soil microbes it is in a chelated form, which means it is attached to an amino acid. While chelated calcium is very easily taken up by the plant roots, it also promotes elongation and branching of the roots. The result is a deeper, more fibrous root system that is better able to make use of the nutrients and the water that is available.

Nature Safe also feeds the soil microbes that are in competition with the pathogens in the soil. While all true organics will feed the beneficial microbes to some extent, Nature Safe does it better because of the higher levels of amino acids found in all of our products. It is the amino acids that serve as food for the microbes. The beneficial microbes congregate around the roots in the rhizosphere because they feed on the amino acids that are being exuded from the roots. Plants exude about 40% of the food they make through their roots to attract the beneficial microbes.

Like all living creatures on the face of the Earth, microbes have ways to protect themselves from their enemies. In the animal kingdom for instance, porcupines have their sharp quills and skunks have their horrible odor to protect themselves. Beneficial soil microbes have the ability to exude antibodies that repel and kill their enemies. One of the many organisims that is found to occur naturally in most soils and is also contained in Nature Safe is Bacillus subtilis which has been shown in recent studies to produce antibiotics including some called iturins that help the bacteria compete with other microorganisms either by killing them or reducing their growth rate. It has also been shown to interfere with the attachment of the pathogen to the plant. By feeding and introducing additional organisms such a B. subtilis and others their numbers are increased exponentially. This greatly increases the number of beneficial organisms in the rhizosphere which serves to better protect the roots. The roots are in effect wrapped in a protective layer of beneficial microbes. Therefore the roots tend to be much healthier so they grow deeper and produce more root hairs.

Since pathogens are not very good competitors, many of them stay in a state of dormancy most of the time in order to survive. They can sense when plants are under stress and then rapidly become active to attack the plant. The antibodies that the soil microbes produce are very effective on the active pathogens, but not the dormant ones. However, the dormant pathogens succumb to gasses that are produced as a by-product by the soil microbes as they consume the energy in the amino acids. Work done by Dr. George Lazarovits in Canada showed that these gases are toxic to many dormant pathogens as well as some other organisms such as nematodes. By killing so many dormant pathogens there are fewer pathogens to infect the plants when the weather conditions are right for the disease to attack. This is particularly true with seasonal diseases such as snow mold.

Nematodes are found in all soils and they are beginning to cause damage much further North than ever before. They may not cause any readily apparent damage in the more northerly climates, but they are always sucking on the roots and causing more stress to be put on the plant. This commonly referred to as subclinical damage. The same gasses that kill dormant pathogens have been found to be toxic to parasitic nematodes. Reducing the populations of nematodes allows the roots to more fully develop and the plants to be much healthier and more vigorous.

The more we learn about these marvelous and totally unseen processes that occur in the soil, the more we come to understand the true secret to Nature Safe performance regardless of the kinds of plants grown.

Gabe Diaz-Saavedra, Regional Manager

That’s the question Joe Bambino, Superintendent at Wynmoor Golf Community in Ft. Lauderdale, asked me during a sales call. Joe also wanted to know why he should continue to use Nature Safe instead of switching to a manure-based organic.

To answer Joe’s questions, we decided to set up a side-by-side comparison of Nature Safe 13-0-0 with manure-based organic Perdue 4-2-3 on his sandiest fairways. Before the comparison, Joe did the math to determine comparable rates of N: 246 lbs. of NS 13-0-0 and 800 lbs. of Perdue 4-2-3.

Most soils in Florida are high in P, so the use of additional P is not going to provide any value and will not have any impact upon the results of the test since P is so slowly available to the plant. The K can be supplemented with SOP or K-Mag, so side-by-side comparisons can be done with validity.

Even though there wasn’t an outstanding difference in product performance during the three month trial, there were some definite differences that Joe mentioned during our follow-up meeting. “Our membership noticed the manure’s strong odor. I also had to put down four times more Perdue and it did not blend into the fairway grass as easily as the Nature Safe,” said Joe. “The handling and efficiency differences of the two products are enough for me to continue using Nature Safe on my fairways.”

In addition to cost and efficiency benefits, Nature Safe’s fertility is readily available to the plant, improving stress tolerance and reducing disease pressures. The metals in manures can present fertility balance issues thus leaving plants susceptible to low stress tolerance and diseases.

If fairways are weak and need a boost, the use of Nature Safe will help stimulate microbial activity and keep the stress of winter from wreaking havoc on fairways.

by Al Nees, Agrotain International

In 2004, Nature Safe proudly introduced an enhanced product (21-3-7) that combined Nature Safe with UFLEXXô from Agrotain International. This combination proved to be an excellent performer allowing for a quick green-up and extended performance at a cost effective price. But some competitors of UFLEXXô have spread some misinformation. Specifically, they have boldly proclaimed that the Stabilized Nitrogenô technology is harmful to soil microbial populations and to avoid use of these products. Whether this be an intentional attempt to derail the fastest growing nitrogen technology, or simply ignorance, it needs to be cleared up. We want turf managers to use these products with confidence, and we want distributors to support them as well.

UFLEXX and UMAXX are urea that have been manufactured to include two enzyme inhibitors that result in significantly improved nitrogen efficiency. The first is a urease inhibitor that stops nitrogen loss from ammonia volatility for up to two weeks. The second, and the source of confusion, is a nitrification inhibitor that blocks the enzyme responsible for the conversion of ammonium nitrogen to nitrate nitrogen. Thus, nitrogen can not be further transformed to nitrate nitrogen. The key here is that plants efficiently use ammonium nitrogen, but because it is a cation, or has a positive electrostatic charge, the soil can hold the rest in reserve. The result is reduced leaching for a better environmental profile.

Could it be that the misinformation could simply be the result of confusion between two different compounds that are very different in mode of action, but with similar result? Probably, we think. Agrotain uses a carbon-nitrogen compound called Dicyandiamide as the nitrification inhibitor. This compound is also used in PVC pipe, color-fast dyes, computer chips, and other innocuous uses. The only other nitrification inhibitor used in the country is Nitrapyrin, marketed by Dow Chemical as N-Serve. It is used in conjunction with anhydrous ammonia applications. Nitrapyrin is registered as a pesticide by the EPA because the mode of action is to kill nitrifying bacteria. Dicyandiamide is not registered as a pesticide by EPA, or any other regulatory agency anywhere in the world. That is because it has been determined that the mode of action is not the same as nitrapyrin. Dicyandiamide does not work by killing soil microbes. Rather, it is an enzyme inhibitor. Specifically, it inhibits the enzyme Ammonium Mono Oxygenase, or AMO. This is the enzyme responsible for the oxidation of ammonium (NH4+) to nitrate (NO2-), or the first step in nitrification. Further oxidation of nitrite nitrogen to nitrate (NO3-) occurs from there. You might be interested to know that products like Primo, Dimension, ProStar, and many others, are classified as enzyme inhibitors as well.

We think it’s a shame that competitors to UFLEXX and UMAXX have to resort to spreading misinformation in order to try to slow the continued growth of the Stabilized Nitrogen technology. Of course they, like you, are entitled to their opinion. For what it’s worth, we have yet to hear feedback from the field that customers are seeing more disease or thatch after years of using this technology. But, do yourself a favor next time your hear, “Don’t use that stuff, it will kill all of your microbes,” ask for proof. We stepped up and provided documented proof. They haven’t.

Research Available on Internet

While all of this information is available on the web at at www.stabilizednitrogen.com, it is reasonable for someone to ask for additional proof. We agreed and proceeded to ask a certified biochemical laboratory to test UMAXX, untreated urea, and a methylene urea product to see if any exhibited any either bactericidal or bacteria inhibitory properties against three specific soil microbes known to be beneficial to turfgrass. The study concluded that none of the products inhibited any of the soil microbes, and the populations of microbes were not killed. The research summary and the entire study are posted on our web site for all to see and download. Further, the study protocol and results were reviewed by industry experts. They agreed that the study was properly conducted and agreed with the results. “There appears to be no inhibitory affect of either tested compound on the growth of three typical soil organisms,” said Dr. Mark Coyne, Associate Professor, Soil Microbiology, University of Kentucky. This comment was after Dr. Coyne’s review of the entire study data and protocol.

by Ken Quandt, Regional Manager

According to the old adage, the proof of the pudding is in the eating. In 2005, the proof of the value of Nature Safe was in the quality of turf Nature Safe users were able to produce and maintain despite some of the worst growing conditions throughout the Midwest and the Northeast in the memory of most professional turf managers. Most areas experienced extremely high temperatures and dry conditions from May until the middle of October. During that time, both the turf and the superintendents were under extreme stress. A lot of turf, along with a superintendent or two, threw in the towel.

Essentially, it was the summer from Hell. In talking with turf professionals throughout the affected area, it is remarkable how many of them attribute the survival of their turf to the Nature Safe program they were on all summer. During mild summers, the real benefits of a Nature Safe program are not always clear. However, after a summer like the one we just had, there can be little doubt. The benefits were particularly evident to turf professionals who were conducting field trials using Nature Safe alongside other fertilizers, both organic and synthetic. Where Nature Safe was used next to other products, the differences were like night and day. We were fortunate to have some superintendents who used Nature Safe on nine fairways and synthetic products on the other nine. Almost without exception, these superintendents are switching their entire programs to Nature Safe for 2006 because they saw such amazing differences.

In some instances, superintendents used Nature Safe on their bentgrass tees while they kept their bentgrass fairways on a synthetic program. Most of them reported a large reduction in diseases and an increase in turf quality on their tees while their fairways did not fare as well. This experience has convinced many of them that the increased quality of turf, coupled with the reduction in the amount of fungicides and other chemicals they normally require, makes Nature Safe the least costly and best way to maintain their turf.

Unfortunately, one cannot wait until the stress period to initiate a Nature Safe program. It is necessary to build the soil microbe populations before stress occurs. That can only be accomplished by applying Nature Safe regularly early in the season. By the time the stress periods arrive, the soil microbe population is large enough to help protect the plants. It is very similar to getting a flu shot – The shot is only beneficial if you get it before you come down with the flu. Once you have the flu it’s too late and you then suffer the consequences of your failure to take appropriate action. As one superintendent put it, “I have 40 weeks to prepare for 12 weeks of Hell. How I use those 40 weeks will determine if I succeed or fail. I don’t wait until the end of the 40 weeks to get started. I begin my preparations immediately after the 12 weeks of Hell are over by making regular applications of Nature Safe.”

The regular use of Nature Safe prepares turf for the rigors of summer in a number of important ways:

• It suppresses pathogenic fungi by greatly increasing the populations of beneficial organisms that compete with them.
• These same beneficial organisms also compete with organisms that cause localized dry spots, resulting in a decrease in LDS.
• It helps to reduce the activity of parasitic nematodes, which adds to the overall vigor of the plants.
• It lowers the soluble salt levels in the soil, which results in a reduction in the plant’s need for water.
• It helps to produce a deeper and more fibrous root system, which enables the plant to make better use of available nutrients and water.
• It helps to increase soil structure that further aids aeration and rooting.
• It increases the rate of photosynthesis due to the increased levels of carbon dioxide that is produced by the activity of the soil microbes.

The one feature of a Nature Safe program that was most appreciated by superintendents during this long, hot summer was the fact that they could maintain their regular fertility program despite the heat. They were able to keep their turf healthy without any fears of burning the turf or over stimulating it. Many superintendents on synthetic programs quit fertilizing their turf during the heat rather than taking a chance on damaging their turf. This resulted in weakened plants that were even more susceptible to summer stress.

Success stories from Nature Safe users this year seem to be the norm. I’m looking forward with great anticipation to hearing more success stories when I visit with superintendents from across the country at upcoming winter trade shows. We at Nature Safe would love to hear all of them.

by Ken Quandt, Regional Manager

Sales people who compete against Nature Safe frequently tell Nature Safe users that they have an organic product that is just like Nature Safe, only cheaper. From time to time I meet end users who believed what they were told and switched from Nature Safe to Brand X in an attempt to save money. None of these people felt the move they made saved them any money over time or that the performance of Brand X was anything close to Nature Safe.

Some end users thought the performance of Brand X was equal to Nature Safe for the first few months after they made the switch. Eventually they realized that they made a mistake by switching. I recently talked to a golf course superintendent who had used Nature Safe on his bentgrass tees for several years. During that time he witnessed a marked decline in the incidence of dollar spot on his tees, even though it remained a problem on his fairways, where he was using synthetic fertilizer. Two years ago, one of his local salesmen convinced him that a new product he was selling was just like Nature Safe, only cheaper. Naturally, everyone wants to save money if they can and the superintendent trusted this particular salesman so he abandoned Nature Safe and purchased Brand X. For the first year, that he was using the new product the superintendent thought it was as good as Nature Safe. The performance seemed to be good and the problems with dollar spot were minimal. However, when he got into the second year, he began to have as many problems with dollar spot on his tees as he was having on his fairways. He discovered that the extra fungicide he was forced to purchase to combat the increased dollar spot more than ate up any savings he might have had from the lower price of Brand X. This superintendent decided to switch back to Nature Safe early this spring. Since then, his dollar spot problems have subsided and his tees have improved. He is still having dollar spot problems on his fairways, but not on his tees.

In another instance a superintendent who was having excellent success with Nature Safe on his bentgrass fairways was forced by the club owner to quit using Nature Safe because of the cost. This particular golf course had not had to spray their fairways for dollar spot more than once or twice a year when they were using Nature Safe. For one year after leaving Nature Safe the dollar spot problems on their fairways was mild. The second year, the dollar spot ran wild and the owner ended up paying a lot more for fungicides to treat the fairways than he ever did for Nature Safe. There was also a corresponding increase in thatch levels that forced the club to increase the frequency of aeration and dethatching. Of course, that also added to their maintenance costs.

The problem in both of the above cases is that the decline did not come until the second year, so both of these clubs were lulled into a false sense of security. They thought their decision to use Brand X was paying off, but when they got into the second year, they realized too late that they had made a mistake. Using Nature Safe on a regular basis gradually increases the level of beneficial soil microbes that are providing nutrients to the plant and competing with the pathogens. Once these soil microbes have been built up to high levels, they do not dissipate rapidly. When the use of Nature Safe is discontinued, the microbe populations slowly decline. During this period, the fertility and disease suppression seems to be somewhat normal. Finally, after enough time has elapsed, problems start to occur.

The fact of the matter is there is no organic fertilizer that can provide the same level of nutrients for the soil microbes as Nature Safe. That is true is because Nature Safe has the highest level of amino acids in the industry and those amino acids are the most digestible by the soil microbes. These amino acids are manufactured by Nature Safe’s parent company, Griffin Industries, to exacting pet food grade standards. We can insure that the amino acids are very digestible. No other organic fertilizer company can do that because none of them make their own ingredients. They cannot control the quality of amino acids used in their products.

Some competing products may look like Nature Safe and some may even list the same ingredients on the bag, but none can match the amount or the digestibility of the amino acids in Nature Safe. That is why there is no other product that is just like Nature Safe – at any price.

by Gabe Diaz-Saavedra, Regional Manager

If there was ever a match made in heaven for today’s southern golf course superintendent it is between Nature Safe organic fertilizers and ultradwarfs. Many superintendents have adopted primarily liquid management programs in attempting to manage their ultradwarfs and have found that their job has become less than heavenly.

What are the management challenges that superintendents face on ultra- dwarfs?

• Very shallow root system.
• Extremely low mowing heights make the turf susceptible to environmental challenges.
• Heavy thatch producer.
• Growing on sand based USGA greens with low organic matter content.
• Very susceptible to phytotoxicity from mis-application of fertilizer.

Why is an organic like Nature Safe the perfect tool to helping superintendents in the south cope with ultradwarf challenges?

Nature Safe feeds the microbes in the soil more effectively and efficiently than any other product on the market. The microbes die releasing nutrients in a much slower more deliberate fashion than nutrients from synthetic fertilizers. This reduces the chance of flushes of growth and scalping. However, the microbes do much more than just prevent flushes of growth:

• Microbes compete with the pathogenic organisms in the soil helping to keep these pathogenic organisms in a dormant state. When microbes are no longer being fed the pathogenic organisms awaken from their dormant state and start to wreck havoc on your greens
• Nature Safe products contain the highest concentration of amino acids available in a commercial fertilizer. The result is an excellent food source to stimulate beneficial soil microbe populations that further improve fertility efficiency and work to decompose thatch.
• The ingredients in Nature Safe are extremely available to the plant and result in a complete and predictable release of nutrients that increases your ability to manage your nutrition program.
• By stimulating microbial activity in the soil you are improving porosity, which further improves nutrient and water management.

Using Nature Safe allows superintendent to leverage Mother Nature and get the natural ecosystem that exists in the green to work for them. Nature Safe has similar benefits for tees and fairways when used in a regular program.

The suggested program for Nature Safe on ultradwarfs is to use the equivalent of 1 lb. N/1,000 at aerification. Apply the product after pulling cores, but before applying the sand to ensure that the Nature Safe gets into the root zone where it will go to work hastening recovery and improving root development.

Monthly, Nature Safe should be used at a rate of .25-.5 lb. N/1,000 to provide the benefits outlined above. Use the 8-3-5 Super Fine formulation and follow the wet dry wet application procedure.

Integrating Nature Safe into an ultradwarf greens management program can pay great dividends for you. The nutrition foundation delivered by a Nature Safe program improves the efficacy and efficiency of all the quality turf management products you use and improves your results. Now that’s what I call a real match made in heaven.

By Natural Choice Editor

Algae and moss can be a devastating problem that severely damages turf. A weak and stressed turf provides an opportunity for algae and moss to flourish. Excessive water and poor drainage limits oxygen access to the roots. High levels of salt weaken the plant, causes osmotic root shock and reduces the plant’s ability to take in fertility.

High fertility and flush growth also weakens turf. The turf’s cell walls are thinner in rapidly growing turf making it more susceptible to damage from traffic, play, or disease.

Another problem is thatch which reduces the soil’s ability to drain and provides a vector for disease. Low mowing heights allow more sunlight to get to the ground. This reduces the plant’s carbohydrate intake to maintain health and affects the plant’s surface area for photosynthesis.

Moss is another devastating problem that turf managers must face. Moss usually disrupts the surface quality of closely mowed turf. Typical moss conditions are wet, humid, shady, acidic, infertile, poorly drained soils, and excessive thatch with thin, weak turf.

A healthy turf makes the establishment of algae and moss more difficult. Nature Safe provides a slow, even feed that improves soil structure and rooting and promotes disease and thatch reduction. It is also low in salt and does not promote rapid growth. Take the opportunity to recommend Nature Safe along with excellent control products to help you overcome algae and moss challenges.

By Natural Choice Editor

A superintendent was giving me a hard time about not wanting to contaminate his new sand greens with organics. I explained that physically, Nature Safe completely disappears within two weeks. Nature Safe does not contain any filler and would never compromise the integrity of his greens.

To further support my rebuttal, here is what Dr. Lazarovits* had to say about organics and sand greens:

Digested plant derived materials, such as composts, are made up mostly of inert materials that are very difficult to decompose by microorganisms. These are primarily lignin polymers. Lignin polymers are the plant kingdom’s equivalent to asphalt. It is a amorphous complex with very stable chemical bonds that are difficult to break so they stay around for centuries. In fact, soil is nothing more than minerals (clay, sand) and lignin.

Nature Safe products are comprised on proteinaceous materials that break down to amino acids within 3-7 days. There is little or no material left behind once the bacteria and fungi get to them. By providing energy to the organisms, the proteinaceous materials lead to their increased population. The release of any excess nitrogen plus the increase in microorganism activity actually accelerates the breakdown of organic matter such as lignin and cellulose. Contrary to the superintent’s belief, Nature Safe and similar organic products reduce thatch accumulation on green surfaces by accelerating their degradation.

*Dr. Lazarovits, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, has performed extensive research on Nature Safe products.

by Natural Choice Editor

Humates are formed from the breakdown of organic matter in the soil. Humates contain most of the known trace elements necessary for the development of plant life since they are mainly derived from plant material. If you were to look at the composition of the humic substance used in our Nature Safe products, leonardite, it is composed of 65-75% humic acids, with total organic material being around 86% (total Carbon is usually around 30%). Leonardite is also a natural source for Phosphorus (P), Potash (K), Calcium (Ca), Magnesium (Mg), Sulfur (S), Boron (B), Iron (Fe) and Manganese (Mn).

Humates have long been known for their ability to increase water-holding capacity in the soil. They can help soils resist drought conditions more effectively and help plants continue their productivity when rainfall or irrigation is insufficient. Humates also react with salt solutions to protect plant roots. They can reduce the pH in alkaline soils and bind up certain toxic aluminum compounds in acid soils. They also can prevent chemical applied to turf from leaching and speed up the decomposition of poisons.

Other little known benefits to using humates include: CO2 liberation from calcium carbonates for plant roots; reduction of soil erosion by increasing the cohesive forces of fine soil particles; increased plant recovery from mowing or damage; prevention of soil crusting; increased root system development; and increased rate and efficiency of seed germination.

Because of all the benefits that humates offer, we incorporate them into all of our Nature Safe products. This is an important ingredient in our products that makes Nature Safe unique.

by Ken Quandt, Regional Sales Manager

Many turf managers fail to realize just how important the beneficial soil microbes are for maintaining healthy turf. These beneficial microbes are the best friends that a superintendent can have, yet they are often starved out and killed with fertilizer and chemical programs that wreak havoc on them. This is unwittingly done through a process that I like to call “The Vicious Circle”. It happens something like this:

• The turf is fed exclusively with synthetic nitrogen sources that do not contain enough carbon to adequately feed the soil microbes. This results in slow starvation for the microbes.
• The starving microbes, desperate for a source of carbon, deplete the soil of organic matter, which is the only other source of carbon available to them.
• The soil structure slowly begins to deteriorate because the class of organisms that flocculate, or glue the soil particles together to create a granular, well-aerated soil, are no longer being adequately fed. The soil then begins to compact and resemble adobe bricks.
• The high salt content in many synthetic fertilizers and the compaction of the soil combine to cause the roots of the plants to decline.
• The lack of sufficient soil organic matter tends to reduce the buffering capacity of the soil, which allows the high salt content synthetic fertilizers to cause increased damage to plant roots.
• The water-soluble synthetic fertilizers tend to promote surge growth that tends to build up thatch layers.
• The lack of adequate populations of beneficial microbes keeps the thatch from decomposing rapidly enough, so the thatch levels continue to build, particularly with some of the vigorous new cultivars of turf that we now have available.
• The build up of thatch gives the pathogenic organisms a wonderful place to breed.
  The pathogens sometimes run wild due to a lack of competition from the beneficial microbes that have been starved out.
• The weakened plants with poor roots systems, growing in compacted soils, are easily preyed upon by pathogenic organisms.
• Usually, toxic chemicals are then applied in an attempt to control the fungi, nematodes or other pathogens that are creating problems for the turf. Unfortunately, these toxic chemicals kill off more of the beneficial organisms.
• Further depleting the beneficial organisms sometimes opens the door for more exotic diseases to attack the turf, so more chemicals are applied and the problem only gets worse.
• Expensive, controlled release synthetic fertilizers are applied in an attempt to reduce the problems, but the soil microbes are still being starved because of a lack of carbon.
• The result is weakened turf that easily succumbs to stress factors such as traffic and heat. In a year with lots of stressful weather, the superintendents’ jobs become Hell!

by Ken Quandt, Nature Safe Regional Manager

Users of Nature Safe have long recognized that turf grown in semi-shaded conditions does much better when fertilized with Nature Safe than with synthetic sources of nitrogen. Turf that had previously been of only marginal quality was greatly improved when put on a steady diet of Nature Safe. Naturally, some of this improvement comes from such things as the suppression of pathogenic organisms, the increased rooting due to lower salt indexes, and improved soil structure. While these factors are all important, possibly the most important factor is the increased carbon dioxide levels that are generated by healthy, active soil microbes.

The normal level of CO2 found in our atmosphere is 300 PPM or 0.03% of the total atmosphere by volume. We know, however, that plants can not only tolerate much higher levels, but that they will actually thrive under such conditions. Geologists who study the fossil records of our Earth, tell us that during geologic eras when the Earth’s atmosphere was naturally enriched with CO2, the face of our planet was covered with much more lush vegetation than we see today. This is thought to be due to a worldwide increase in the rate of photosynthesis in plants, due to the elevated CO2 levels.

Greenhouse growers have found that artificially increasing carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere surrounding their plants creates larger, healthier plants. This is due to the fact that plants use carbon dioxide and water plus sunlight in the photosynthetic process to make and store simple sugars. This process is often represented by the formula:

6CO2 + 12H2O (C6H12O6 + 6H2O + 6O2). If extra carbon dioxide can be added, photosynthesis or the manufacturing and storing of food, increases. This food is then used in the process of respiration.

In a closed environment, such as in a greenhouse, artificially enriching the environment with extra carbon dioxide is a relatively easy task. One simply closes the vent windows in the greenhouse and then pumps in CO2 from dry ice. For plants such as turfgrasses that are grown out of doors, it is virtually impossible to artificially enrich the environment with carbon dioxide.

Turf grown in semi-shaded conditions frequently uses more stored food for respiration than it can manufacture during the limited times that sunlight is available for photosynthesis. When this occurs, the plant literally overdraws its bank account of stored food. The plant then becomes weakened and it can easily succumb to other stress factors.

A healthy biologically active soil that is fertilized with a high-energy source like Nature Safe will produce more carbon dioxide than soil that is fertilized with synthetic nitrogen sources. The plant can then manufacture more food in the limited amount of time that it is exposed to sunlight. This extra food production can be the difference between live healthy turf and dead turf when summer stress factors are at their peak.