Mike Williams, Head Grounds Keeper Charleston Riverdogs, won several awards this year. The South Atlantic League's Sport's Turf Manager of the Year. The South Atlantic League's Best Surface and Playability award went to Mike. The South Carolina Sport's Turf Managers Association award for Best Professional Field was also awarded to Mike. Mike has a very unique situation in that he has a college (The Citadel) that plays on his field as well as a professional team. Usually you would have one or the other. Great job, Mike!

•Ready To Spray (RTS) packaging is becoming more and more popular and available. RTS means the person spraying just attaches the product to the hose and begins spraying. The person applying the product still needs to cover the area as outlined on the label because the product is a concentrated version of the control product or fertilizer. RTS products are great for dormant oil, wetting agents, insecticides and fungicides. With herbicides I would feel safer mixing a concentrate into a sprayer or using a Ready To Use product.
I had one customer that killed her yard with a RTS herbicide that she purchased at another store (we do not stock RTS herbicides). The herbicide siphoned out of the bottle quicker than she thought it would and she killed an area of her lawn. She did not follow the label and cover the area she should have. Ready To Use (RTU) is a product that is already diluted, requires no mixing and is ready for spraying. Always read, understand and follow product label.
•Dollar Weed Control Plus by Fertilome was able to control some weeds in a granular formulation that were never able to be controlled before without spraying. Fertilome is still perfecting the formulation to give more consistent results; however, we had many success stories. With weeds like Virginia Buttonweed, Wild Violet, Match Weed, Lespedeza, Florida Betony, Ground Ivy, Coffee Weed, Vetch, Clover, Sedges, and the always hated Dollar Weed plus many more on the label, we look forward to the changes in the formulation.  
•Salt Free saved many folks' plants from salt damage during those extremely high tides we had in 2009. The small packaging is perfect for a homeowner and Salt Free comes in larger sizes for the commercial user.
*Bio Grounds Keeper (BGK) 7500 by Sustane manages thatch by bacteria and is in a convenient granular formulation. BGK 7500 also contains aerobically composted turkey manure as an added bonus. Since BGK 7500 is aerobically composted, many of the good microorganisms are still in the product.


(Bill Lamson-Scribner can be reached during the week at Possum's Landscape and Pest Control Supply. Possum's has three locations 481 Long Point Rd in Mt. Pleasant (971-9601), 3325 Business Circle in North Charleston (760-2600), or 606 Dupont Rd, in Charleston (766-1511). Bring your questions to a Possum's, fax your questions to 406-2700 or e-mail them to your newspaper's editors. You can also call in your questions to ' The Garden Clinic', Saturdays from 12-1 p.m. on 1250 WTMA  (The Big Talker).