For several years, the Greenkeeper mobile app has been helping superintendents determine the best time to apply plant growth regulators.
Now, an add-on feature will help them ensure they apply product on where it is needed.
Greenkeeper CIS allows users to map course boundaries, log pest applications, create prescription spray maps and add drone maps and application records. Users can turn data into application maps for GPS-guided sprayers allowing them to save time and money on product and water.
"We needed some way to make data actionable," said Bill Kreuser, Ph.D., superintendent at Jim Ager Golf Course in Lincoln, Nebraska, and the founder of Greenkeeper and CIS. "It provides better control of GPS sprayers and irrigation systems. It allows you to pull in boundary files so you can customize where you want to spray.
"It prevents some areas from not being treated, or over-applying. We now have a way of controlling that sprayer."
Besides marking boundaries of fairways, tees, bunkers and greens, Greenkeeper CIS (short for Course Information System) allows users to mark off specific targets, including individual weeds, pests and other smaller problem areas for spot-specific application.
"With CIS, you can see your location on the map and you can mark exactly where the pest is," Kreuser said. "You can write notes, and create custom spray applications for those spots for, say, for yellow nutsedge. We're really excited about the realm of precision turf management that this can bring to every turn manager. The reduction in spray volume can be huge. And this allows you to do this without complex software.
"It will be a nice change to take a map of the course and identify where the problems are, share them and link that to the sprayer."
Data can be stored locally or on Greenkeeper CIS.
Kreuser had just recently finished collecting data for the CIS system when his sprayer was stolen from Ager Golf Course and crashed into a police vehicle in August.
He related a real-world experience to demonstrate the savings that can be realized through the CIS program when he treated for Pythium root rot on four greens at Ager.
"I drew where we wanted to treat. It was six spots on four greens," Kreuser said. "Instead of treating all 50,000 square feet, we treated 6,000 square feet and still eliminated the problem."
To date, Kreuser has worked with multiple companies, including Deere and Frost to upload maps into spray units.
"They realize clients are begging for a tool to control their sprayer," he said.
"This is a hub that brings all that data together and overlays them so the turf manager can make a decision."
Kreuser founded Greenkeeper in 2017 along with Doug Soldat, Ph.D., of the University of Wisconsin. Kreuser insists that the latest CIS add-on is not the end of innovation under the Greenkeeper umbrella.
Kreuser promises more changes by the end of the year.
"I love the entrepreneurial side of this," he said. "This is all about when you need to do something, minimizing the quantity and making sure the timing is right."
