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Making PGRs profitable
1 Jan, 2009 By: Curt Harler Landscape ManagementOnce landscapers realize they can make a buck using plant growth regulators (PGRs), they will make them part of their programs. But the problem is many contractors don't understand PGRs.
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Roger Storey, vice president of the turf and ornamental unit at Carmel, IN-based SePRO, stresses that it's important to see the value. "If you want to do more with the same crew, that's where PGRs can help," he says.
"A lot of landscapers are afraid of PGRs because they don't feel they have adequate knowledge about using them," says Laylah VanBibber, director of marketing at PBI Gordon, Kansas City, MO. Many more landscapers use PGRs for ornamental treatments than for mowing, she says.
PBI Gordon finished a study of 584 landscapers early in December and found that just 7.1% use PGRs for mowing, most citing the cost of the product and uncertainty about use.
About two-thirds of those responding charge for their services on a per-mow basis. It's tough for them to justify a higher cost service to the customer when the customer sees fewer mowings.
But industry sources say, and studies show, that PGRs can more than pay for themselves with labor and fuel savings on the turf maintenance side as well.
 Lawn treated with Primo |
Stay manicured longer
Contract mowers have an easier time justifying PGRs. It's simple to cost-justify PGRs on hard-to-mow or dangerous areas. Steep hillsides or ditch banks are perfect for PGR use. The seedhead-suppression is good, too, especially on larger, more remote turf areas.
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"Without raggedy seedheads sticking up, a far-away area will look trim for a longer time without additional mowing," VanBibber says.
Another key market is cemeteries or other places with a lot of trimming required. "PGRs are a great tool to spray around headstones to reduce trimming," says Dennis Shepard, Ph.D., a technical representative for Syngenta Professional Products.
Labor, equipment costs and clipping removal figure large in the PBI Gordon study. Travel to the job site does not. Interestingly, 48% of contractors bag clippings. Reducing the number of clippings to remove is another place PGRs cut costs.
Twice as nice
Perhaps the newest product on the market is Legacy, a combination of Primo (trinexapac-ethyl + flurprimidol) and Cutless (flurprimidol). SePRO introduced it last May. Legacy is labeled for golf courses (not landscape use), although Storey says the company expects to expand the label.
Legacy acts two ways on the plant cycle, one early and one late. The result, research says, is enhanced suppression, better color and about a week's extra activity. In addition, Storey says the "rebound" effect noted with Primo alone is eliminated. Cutless works on the roots, Primo on the leaf.
Because PGRs slow down turf growth, lawn pros can realize significant savings in fuel costs, labor reduction and/or reallocation for other tasks. Plus, their mowing equipment will work more efficiently and last longer, says Shepard, adding that PGRs make even more economic sense where the lawn care pro has contracted for the mowing and landscape maintenance operation.
PGRs also can help lawn maintenance companies expand their customer bases. Cool-season turf species like tall fescue and Kentucky bluegrass grow very fast in the spring, and it is a challenge to keep up with the mowing. PGRs can be used to manage the growth during the spring, and turf growth will slow as the temperatures warm.
"In the North, one or two applications will greatly reduce unsightly Poa annua seedheads in the spring," says Don Myers, product development manager for herbicides and PGRs with Bayer Environmental Science.
While Bayer's Proxy is known in turfgrass for seedhead suppression, the company has another product in the wings for use on trees and hedges. It has been registered by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, but has not yet been released. While it first will be targeted at the nursery business, the material likely will see use in the T&O area.
"I think it could be of value in a landscaping situation," Myers says. "If you didn't have to prune hedges and could get a more restrictive growth pattern with less labor, it would be worth considering."
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