NAME BRAND VS. GENERIC FUNGICIDES

Here is a project that two of our interns are doing this summer at Des Moines golf under the direction of Rick Tegtmeier: We will keep you posted on the results as they come in.

Name brand vs. generic pesticides
Ever wondered if whether it was worth the extra dollar for name brand pesticides? Well, here at Des Moines Golf and Country Club we are running tests to figure out the mystery. My name is Tyler Boley and along with my fellow co-worker Tayler Riggen, we should soon have a more definite answer. We will both be seniors next year at Iowa State in the turfgrass program and are interning this summer at Des Moines Golf.

Due to the current economy, the Director of Grounds, Rick Tegtmeier, has recently considered to switching to a generic form of chlorothalonil for fungus control. Using the generic form of fungicide would save the course around $6500 per year. Luke Dant, the representative for Syngenta has decided to fund a project trying to prove to Rick that it is worth his money to stay with his name brand product, Daconil.

Tayler and I have worked closely with Luke and Rick and set up two separate plots in different fairways to try and capture what was happening in our controlled and sprayed plots. We are spraying 3 forms of fungicide, Daconil (name brand), and 2 generics. They are each sprayed in 5’x10’ plots and replicated 3 times in each plot. We have 2 different plots one on the north course and the other on the south course, where we will monitor each products success and failures. When we collect results, another article will be posted to update everyone.


Nick Christians