 |
 |
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
 |
About usAs superintendent for over 21 years at Old Oak Country Club in Illinois, Pete Lieponis has experienced many of the same irrigation water quality issues superintendents are facing today. Poor infiltration rates on his greens and a lack of color response from fertilizer applications left him frustrated and determined to discover the root of his turf grass problems. After several failed attempts to properly deal with the issue, Pete decided to hire a consultant from Brookside Laboratories to test his irrigation water quality and the results were astounding. The analysis showed that Old Oak’s pH was 8.0 and the bicarbonates were in the 525ppm. What was even more perplexing to Pete was the fact that, at that time, treating water quality was almost unheard of in the Midwest. It was always falsely assumed that Midwest water was “good” water.
Where do we go from here? That was Pete’s number one question. It was obvious that he needed to start treating and fast. The Brookside consultant recommended using pHairway – a water treatment amendment that when added to irrigation water, can control the destructive dissolved salts and bicarbonates that are harmful to turf. In 1995, Old Oak began using the pHairway product and the results were almost instantaneous! He witnessed an immediate greening response. Several troublesome turf grass areas of localized dry spots were eliminated. Areas that had succumbed to stress began to recover and the overall conditions improved dramatically. Continued use allowed him to reduce fertilizers and eliminate the use of wetting agents. In short, Pete and the golfers at Old Oak saw the benefits of pHairway. Soon after, Pete recognized that the delivery and service for the pHairway product in the Chicagoland area was clearly less than adequate. Within a year, Pete was efficiently delivering the product to local golf courses and then expanded his coverage to surrounding states. Soon he learned through painful experience that the acid injection equipment was unreliable and service unsatisfactory. This led Pete to start Prime Turf in April of 1996. He assembled a team of motivated experienced professionals. Within five years of his first delivery, Prime Turf became the largest distributor of the pHairway product. The customer base grew. The testimonials and first hand experience with the results of the product convinced the Prime Turf team, confident that they had a good product with a great future. They were determined to avoid mistakes of the past. Together with industry experts, they dedicated time, energy and available resources toward building more reliable equipment and offering unmatched service to their customers. Over the years, Prime Turf has developed patented equipment and a series of proprietary technologies designed into the most reliable acid injection and control station available today. In 2004, Prime Turf will directly service over 200 customers in the Greater Midwest and Florida. Pete and his team continue to drive innovative efforts to advance the knowledge base of how the pHairway product works. Recently, the pHairway Program has been independently tested by Michigan State University. Preliminary results of this study substantiate claims of improved nutrient uptake in turf irrigated with pHairway treated water. A summary of these preliminary results is currently available on our website. “Educating today’s superintendents about their potential water quality issues is important”, Pete states. “I’m always looking for ways to make their jobs easier.” “Our mission is to offer turf management professionals high quality, innovative products, services and application expertise related to all areas of turf water treatment. The programs we offer will always combine specialized chemistries, feed / control equipment and dedicated on-site service to create value and solve problems for our customers.” |
 |
|
 |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
 |
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
