Real-Life Solutions

DEALI NG WITH H IG H SODI U M, PH
Amino Acids Absolute
Problem
After 22 years of irrigating
with effluent water, the
fairways at White Pines GC
began to die from a
tremendous buildup of
sodium in the soil, which
also had a high pH.
Solution
The use of amino acid
products provides the turf
with more energy to pull
nutrients and water from the
soil more effectively.
www.golfdom.com
Products help superintendent solve effluent irrigation woes
B Y D A V I D J E W E L L A N D L A R R Y AY L W A R D
he news from the lab was un- ceeded his father as superintendent of the
T fortunate. White Pines GC
superintendent Steve Partyka
was told his Bensenville, Ill.,
golf course’s soil analysis re-
vealed the dirt was so poor that it wasn’t fit
for growing turf.
course seven years ago and was his assistant 11
years before that, has monitored greens and
tees for sodium buildup from the effluent
water. He often treated the greens and tees with
gypsum to leach the sodium out.
But Partyka never treated the fairways. After
It was 1998, and Partyka knew something
was wrong. After all, 75 percent of the turf on
22 years of effluent irrigation and little treat-
ment, a major problem hit.
the fairways of the 36-hole municipal com- The summer of 1998 was warm and dry.
plex was dying. But Partyka didn’t expect news The season’s aridness had a terrible impact on
this bad. White Pines’ sodium-laden fairways. In late
The lab’s soil analysis revealed the course’s July and early August, the fairways began to
salt index was a whopping 330 pounds per die.
acre. An index of 50 pounds per acre is con- Partyka now knows it was because of the
sidered high. So it was obvious to Partyka why
most of the fairways were dying.
But what wasn’t obvious was the source
of the problem. “I figured it had something to
do with the effluent water we used for irriga-
tion,” Partyka says.
The problem
Before 1976, the fairways at White Pines
PHOTOS COURTESY OF JEWELL, BAKER AND ZANDER
weren’t irrigated. The course only watered its
tees and fairways with well water.
But in 1976, when Partyka was a part-time
laborer at the course and his father, Ed, was
superintendent, White Pines installed a new
irrigation system for greens, tees and fairways
with a watering capacity of 2,400 gallons per
minute. (The previous system’s capacity was
600 gallons per minute.) The course, however,
didn’t have enough well water to support the
system. It had to use Bensenville’s effluent water
to sustain the new irrigation system.
Since 1976, the water irrigating the course Superintendent Steve Partyka heard about Nutra-
has been a mixture of 80 percent effluent water max Laboratories’ products from several sources,
and 20 percent well water. Partyka, who suc- including chatting online with superintendents.
tremendous sodium buildup over the pre-
vious 22 years in combination with the
dry summer. Consequently, the soil also
had a high pH. Since there was no rain,
there was no fresh water to knock back
sodium counts. “So every time we wa-
tered, it was like spreading salt out there,”
Partyka says.
Partyka says he never figured the
sodium count would climb so
high on the fairways. He at-
tributes that to not know-
ing the sodium count in
the effluent water.
“The EPA doesn’t
regulate the sodium in ef-
fluent water,” he says. “So The damaged fairways have transformed into lush, green turf
with a 10-inch root system. “I’ve built my program around the
the sodium count can be
amino acids,” Partyka says.
high one day and low the
next. You don’t know what radicular delivers He irrigates less than he did a year ago.
you’re getting from day to day.” L-amino acids to en- Partyka says the foliar also allows him
Partyka, however, was not about to hance root mass production. to reduce application of his organic fer-
let the bad news get to him. He scoured Partyka used it in combination with a tilizer to 1.5 pounds per 1,000 square
the Internet for products to help grow biostimulant and a wetting agent. He feet from 4 pounds per thousand square
turf in salt-saturated soil. His rootless and his crew kept applying the same feet. “I never thought I could go that
turf needed help — fast. combination every two weeks. low,” he says.
When the soil temperature reached Partyka also reduced his fungicide ap-
The solution 55 degrees, Partyka substituted the plications thanks to the radicular, which
Initially, the obvious things to do were Macro-Sorb radicular with Macro-Sorb helps turf fight off certain diseases so less
aerify the fairways and seed the bad areas. foliar at 1.5 ounces per square feet, which fungicide is needed.
Then Partyka and his crew spread gyp- adds specific L-amino acids to turf to While Partyka sprays an insecticide to
sum at a rate of 25 pounds per 1,000 make water and fertilizer last longer. Par- control grubs, he believes the Nutramax
square feet. But Partyka knew the fair- tyka and his crew used this mix every two program also functions as a strong grub-
ways needed something else. weeks through mid-September. control process. The turf ’s roots are so
Partyka learned about Edgewood, The amino acids in the products pro- thick and deep that grubs can’t destroy
Md.-based Nutramax Laboratories’ vide turf with more energy to pull nutri- them, Partyka says. “Skunks and raccoons
products from several sources, including ents and water from soil more effectively. can’t pull back the turf because the roots
by chatting with other superintendents Partyka and Giuliano continued the are so strong,” he adds. (Hence, Partyka
online. In the late fall of 1998, he at- Nutramax program in 2000 and 2001. has saved money because he’s cut back on
tended an association meeting and Partyka has seen steady progress, even insecticides.)
stopped by the Nutramax booth. He though the turf’s pH is still high (it was Partyka says Nutramax’s amino acids
chatted with a Nutramax representative 9.58 last year). The damaged fairways are easy to use, are compatible with other
and told him of his fairway problem. have transformed into lush, green turf products, and they don’t clog the sprayer.
The representative advised Partyka to try with a 10-inch root system. Of course, they offset sodium from ef-
the company’s line of amino-acid based “I’ve built my program around the fluent water to make for healthy fairways
products. Now they’re the base of Par- amino acids,” he says. “It’s like our Bible. — and provide peace of mind to wor-
tyka’s turf-care program. We never miss an application from April ried superintendents. 
On April 1, 1999, Partyka and his as- through September.”
sistant, Joe Giuliano, applied Nutramax’s There are added and unexpected ben- Editor’s note: Jewell is president of Jewel
Macro-Sorb radicular for the first time efits as well. Partyka has decreased irri- Baker Zander, a public relations firm in
at 4 ounces per 1,000 square feet. The gation, thanks to the Macro-Sorb foliar. Kansas City, Mo.

©Reprinted from GOLFDOM, February 2002 AN ADVANSTAR ★ PUBLICATION Printed in U.S.A.

Copyright Notice Copyright by Advanstar Communications Inc. Advanstar Communications Inc. retains all rights to this article. This article may only be viewed or printed (1) for personal use. User may not actively
save any text or graphics/photos to local hard drives or duplicate this article in whole or in part, in any medium. Advanstar Communications Inc. home page is located at http://www.advanstar.com.
Maintenance
 CAS E ST U DY

DESIGN, MAINTENANCE & MANAGEMENT

Spoil the Turf, Save the Trees

Just when Doug
Petersan was
considering leveling
trees to protect
greens at Baltimore
CC, he heard about
a new amino acid
treatment that
offered hope

The trees still stand on the 10th hole at

Problem Baltimore CC and the greens are
healthier than ever, thanks to an amino
The composition of trees acid product used to treat them.
on four holes prevented air
movement and limited the
amount of sunlight to the
grass in those areas. That The problem

combined with people con-
stantly walking on and off
the greens made it difficult
to maintain healthy turf.
Solution
An amino acid formula de-
signed to stimulate the nat-
ural processes that control
photosynthetic activity, and
enhance water and nutrient
efficiency of the plant.
D
oug Petersan
had a fright-
ening vision.
The superin-
tendent of Ti-
monium,
Md.-based
Baltimore CC envisioned himself
— with chain saw in hand — lev-
eling handsome trees near four
holes on the club’s East Course to
correct nagging problems with
thin turf.
The layout and composition of
the trees was an integral part of the
course’s design. Petersan knew that
cutting them down would mean
altering the feel and atmosphere of
the holes, even though the trees’
canopies had enlarged significantly
over time.
“Cutting down trees, from my
perspective, is usually a measure of
last resort,” Petersan admits.
The layouts of the 10th, 13th, 16th
and 17th holes on the East Course,
known as “tree greens,” made it dif-
ficult to maintain healthy turf.
“The composition of trees pre-
vents air movement and also sub-
stantially limits the amount of
sunlight to the grass in each of
those areas,” says Petersan, who
has 35 years of experience and is
known for his problem-solving
abilities. “When you combine that
with people constantly walking on
and off the greens, you have a great
recipe for trouble.
“The situation was getting more
desperate with time,” he adds.
“There were few alternatives. We
knew we had to take more aggres-
sive steps to salvage the greens.”
Options considered
Petersan and his crew took all of
the normal and available steps to
save the greens. “We fumigated,
re-seeded and removed trees that
didn’t affect the integral design of
the holes,” he says, “but we didn’t
totally solve the problems.”
Petersan considered a tile sys-
tem and total reconstruction of the
greens. But many of the options
were too expensive or would have
suspended play on the greens for
several weeks or even months.
Solution chosen
Just when Petersan considered cut-
ting the trees down, he heard
about a new amino acid product,
Macro-Sorb, that’s designed to
stimulate the natural processes that
control photosynthetic activity,
and enhance water and nutrient
efficiency of the plant. Amino
acids, the building blocks of pro-
tein matter, are natural molecules
that take part in a plant’s physiological
processes. Plants produce their own L form
amino acids by performing a synthesis of
the required amino acid or an hydrolysis of
some protein that contains the amino acid.
Plants save energy when treated with the
natural L form amino acid. In principle, the
saved energy can be used for other processes
resulting in a healthy and efficient plant
that can withstand stress and the onslaught
of disease.
Petersan and his crew applied the formu-
lation to the most depleted greens.
Outcome
“We witnessed quantitative improvement
within a few weeks,” Petersan says. “The
plants appeared healthier, less yellow, less
stressed, and the tests we ran confirmed this.”
The plants on the tree greens were in excel-
lent condition after six months, Petersan says.
©Reprinted from GOLFDOM, January/February 1999
Copyright Notice Copyright by Advanstar Communications Inc. Advanstar Communications Inc. retains all rights to this article. This article may only be viewed or printed (1) for personal use. User may not
actively save any text or graphics/photos to local hard drives or duplicate this article in whole or in part, in any medium. Advanstar Communications Inc. home page is located at http://www.advanstar.com.
Comments
Petersan says that the chemical treatments
alone could never cure the tree greens. The
A look at Doug Petersan
Doug Petersan, superintendent of Baltimore
regular application program of the foliar and CC, has more than 35 years of experience,
radicular versions of the product were applied and a solid reputation for managing complex
in conjunction with fungicides, herbicides or golf courses and solving
light applications of fertilizer every two weeks. problems on them.
Absorption rates increased, Petersan says. Prior to coming to
Return on investment Baltimore in 1991,
Baltimore CC spent less than 5 percent of Petersan was the
its annual chemical/fertilizer budget on 65 superintendent at
acres of fairways, eight acres of greens and Prairie Dunes CC in
four acres of tees on Macro-Sorb and Que- Kansas, ranked one of
lant-Ca, another Nutramax product used the top 25 golf
to correct calcium deficiencies in plants. courses in the United
“When we were able to document that States. He hosted four United States Golf
use of [Macro-Sorb] resulted in healthier Association events over 10 years at Prairie
Dunes. Petersan has been the mentor to at
plants and limited the spread of disease and
least 22 individuals who became
impact of stress, we knew it represented a
superintendents after working for him.
major cost savings to us in our overall pro-
gram,” Petersan says. 
AN ADVANSTAR ★ PUBLICATION Printed in U.S.A.