2/22/2022 - By Scott Parker

As I sit in my office to write this blog, it’s nice to see our industry getting out together again in person. Many of you were recently out in San Diego for the GIS, tradeshow season is back in the swing of things throughout the country and many educational meetings are being held face to face. I’ve attended many of these and had the opportunity to talk to many golf course superintendents, sports turf managers, and lawn care owner/operators and it has really impressed me how much time and effort has gone into improvement on the communication front.

Planning ahead

In the real time world we live in today, it’s so very important to plan ahead, educate your staff/employees and to get everyone on the same page to understand your intent. Communicating what you’re doing and why you’re doing it to your owners, membership, clientele, etc. helps set your narrative now and avoids the unwanted stresses of being second guessed by arm-chair quarterbacks during the growing season. Many of you are masterfully doing this through regular blogs, speaking at board meetings, e-mail blasts to clients, and through your social media platforms. The use of BMPs (Best Management Practices) have also become a very powerful tool in setting your narrative and illustrating what you do and why you’re running you're doing it. There are countless resources to build your BMPs through universities, state governments, private business, and so on. 

Harrell's resources

Here at Harrell’s, we have several tools that can help you build your plan and help communicate it to your stakeholders when the time arises. Here are just a few:

• POLYON® POLYGRAPH technology. This identifies exactly how much Nitrogen you’re applying to your turf each week during the growing season. For more information on this program, reach out to your local Harrell's Representative.
• Custom Blending of POLYON® Controlled-Release Fertilizer give you the ability to custom formulate exactly what type of fertilizer you want for your specific property. It allows prescription fertilizer capabilities.
• Foliar Calculators help keep track of all the foliar nutrition you’re applying to your property each year. For more information, check out this article by Jeff Atkinson!
• Annual programs tool helps track the exact applications of products, rates, timing, inventory, etc. For more information, check out this article by Jeff Atkinson!
• We have an experienced sales team with four Ph.Ds on staff to help answer questions, identify problems, and help build agronomic plans for your property.

With all the various issues you deal with every day, from labor to weather to supply chain to internet experts, it’s great to get in front of these things with a solid plan and constant communication. I wish everyone the best of luck in 2022 and please call on us at anytime if we can help you build this plan. As always, thanks so much for all that you do for Harrell’s!