Sports Turf Specialists Pty Ltd is a small, yet highly functioning business that focuses on sporting field maintenance & renovation and has been operational since 2014 when founder / managing director, Jesse Bartlett, decided to take a leap of faith and start his own business.
Jesse was greenkeeping on sports turf surfaces when he started the business, a brave and confident decision for a 22-year-old. “It was just me and a shed and a very small amount of equipment, my passion got me through the first few years, but over time, as my reputation grew and I won a few maintenance contracts along the way, the business now employs 7 greenkeepers and manages 5 sites and numerous Hectares”. Jesse mentions as he and BASF Turf & Ornamentals BDM, Grant Thomas met onsite to discuss his recent disease prevention success.
“We’ve grown to a point where we are now often employed as expert contractors some of NSW largest stadium installs, as well as managing our ever-growing portfolio of ongoing contracts including 2 cricket wicket tables, a bowling green, a croquet lawn and also a turf farm ” he adds.
Onsite at Guildford Leagues Club, a site Jesse and team have managed since 2019, Grant witnesses a brilliantly oversewn Football surface. Jesse proudly states “we put our Ryegrass out in the middle of March. We had a brilliant germination. The past few seasons I have applied Lexicon® when seeding as the Intrinsic® formulation of that fungicide is second to none, we did the same this year and had a fantastic strike with no signs of disease”.
As with most of the greater Sydney area at this time, Guildford was seeing regular day time temperatures in the high 20’s to low 30’s. The average for month was 27 degrees. Then the rain hit. “We had a little more than 100mm to close out March, soon after germination. April started with some days early in the month of 100 or so millimeters and we will finish the month with nearly 200mm. That has bought some disease pressure” Jesse says. He adds “we were unable to mow the seed, it was getting quite long. I was worried the extra disease pressure would take its toll on the surface, particularly when we had to mow the rye right back to an acceptable height.
I was recommended Xzemplar® by my regular sales representative as a really strong, quick knockdown and long lasting fungicide. It was also very well priced for a fungicide with R&D company development, a new active ingredient, Fluxapyroxad, and being powered by the Xemium® technology that BASF have developed in their formulations, it was an easy decision to get it out to protect my turf from any number of diseases that were almost certain to appear and infect the ryegrass”.
Jesse had Xzemplar applied at 14 days and 28 days after seed germination and is still to see any symptoms of turf stress. An amazing result given the rain and warm weather seen over the past 6 weeks.
As he wraps up his chat with Grant, off to mark lines for the weekend Rugby League matches, he adds “it’s a great product, mate. I would not have expected any fungicide to have held off everything (all expected diseases), but that Xzemplar has held up. I will use it again. Its great that it gives me another rotational option and does not blow my chemical budget”.
At a glance
Working faster and for longer than competitor products, Xzemplar offers turf managers many benefits:
• SC Formulation
• Tank mixable with partner products, such as Maxtima and Lexicon
• Very competitive price per Hectare
• Low use rate (650 - 800ml / Ha)
• Less active in the soil (195 – 240g AI / Ha)
• Best in class safety for re-entry periods and sensitive areas including application alongside waterways, vegetative and livestock areas and pollinators with no buffer zones (refer to the product label for full directions for use).
• Group 7 - 330g/L Fluxapyroxad
• Curative and preventative disease control on all turf species across all surface types
Why Xzemplar?
As a rotational partner for other fungicides in our range, Maxtima (Group 3) & Lexicon (Group 7 & 11), that are relied on for some very heavy lifting during the summer, Xzemplar is a key tool in your program for times such as these. With late season stress Xzemplar can assist in achieving a well-rounded, fungicidal approach utilising numerous chemistry groups and mode of action strategies.
Some of the toughest diseases are easily managed with Xzemplar. Curative results have been observed in as little as 4 days! This fast acting, curative management allows turf managers who aren’t following a preventative program to have confidence in a reactive approach to their disease management. Areas like golf fairways, sporting fields and turf farms are ideal for Xzemplar treatments when ad hoc diseases appear, with its fast knockdown and cost-effective price point.
Xzemplar has shown incredible results for both Fairy Ring and Dollar Spot, additionally, very strong efficacy can be expected for Brown Patch/Large Patch, Helminthosporium Complex (Bipolaris spp., Drechslera spp., Exserohilum spp.) and Leaf and Sheath Spot (Waitea circinate var. zeae or W. circinate var. oryzae).
Stewardship and further technical information
As we strive to increase the awareness of best practice to the turf industry, we are continually revisiting our product portfolio information and refreshing the pool of knowledge we are growing every day. Our team is driven by success stories across the industry with the growing presence of products on turf shelves across Australia.
Along with this bulletin, Xzemplar Fungicide has a refreshed technical note and training presentation.
These product packages are designed for turf managers and their developing staff members to have access to the information behind the product label and product Safety Data Sheet.
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