Water Quality Improvement
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kelly billing ~ design, supply, consulting ~ changing the way Water Becomes a Garden kellybilling.com [email protected] 443.504.2345 Water Quality Improvement ~ Streams ~ Circulation through plant roots ~Shoreline plantings ~Moats ~Floating Wetlands ~Bottom aeration ~Container filtration ~Combined practices ~Bacteria ~Nualgi, for all water bodies and turf, for more information contact me directly. Pond Algae is nobody’s Friend! Superintendents and Pond Contractors find an eco-friendly solution without sacrificing quality! “We applied Nualgi Lakes on our 6 lakes totaling 3.9 acres starting April 2017. Our application rate was 11 ounces per surface acre per 30 days. …In the previous years we have used a bacteria product…Our weather started with cold, wet and eventually turned to typical warm and dry. Our end of the season observations as compared to our previous year experience is that the algae was controlled slightly better, especially along the edges in the cattails and the water clarity seemed better than it was using bacteria . End costs were similar” Jon Heselwood, Superintendent Buffalo Hill Golf Course, Kalispell MT “This is my 3 rd year using Nualgi Lakes at Lapis Road pond in Carlsbad CA. This pond is a part of a housing community surrounded by a walking trail and recreational areas. The community is very concerned with safety of products used in the pond as fish, birds, pets and kids can come in contact with the water. Nualgi has been a god send for me. As a pond contractor, I have been able to make my customers very happy and at the same time reduce my costs and maintenance time by as much as half. …..this 1.2-million-gallon pond has evolved to a point that it is now robust enough to better withstand weather events and the uncertain water quality from the city.” Shawn Ellison, San Diego Pond Builders, San Diego CA “My water chemistry has improved greatly after Nualgi. I did have to spray for some floating algae to help, but only once. Water chemistry in this pond continues to be stable especially in the phosphate and ammonia categories . Carbonate Hardness is around 140-150 range. Clarity has improved. I stopped chemical use when we began using Nualgi” David Plamann, Pond Contractor, Lawrence KS Sep 5 Oct 12 Nualgi is a nano-scale liquid treatment that contains all 12-essential macro and micro nutrients + Silica for promoting the growth of Diatoms which outcompete nuisance algae for nutrients and increase oxygen in the water. Nualgi Lakes is easy to apply. 32oz treats 2 million gallons once a week to once a month depending on water quality. Nualgi is easy to apply, simply dilute the appropriate dose in a backpack sprayer and walk around the pond, squirting the product a few feet into the pond. Benefits reported by users include stoppage of bad odor, polished appearance of the water, more vibrant fish and other marine life, reduction in BOD, COD, Nitrates, Nitrites, Ammonia and Phosphates, reduced need for herbicides and elimination of algaecides. Nualgi is ideal for remediation of waters containing human, animal or agricultural waste David Dore-Smith, Arron McCurdy, Brian Moore… 200 Courses are trialing Nualgi on their greens this year….Are you ready to order yours? Copperleaf uses Tifeagle Bermudagrass for its 3 acres of greens and have been using Nualgi weekly since September of 2018. I have been extremely impressed so far with the color, consistency and overall health of our greens since starting with Nualgi. I have been able to reduce the rate of the foliar products that I have been using for many years without impacting our greens quality. Our use of fungicides has also been extremely low and only rely on preventative applications when needed. We did use check plots on several greens at various times and were able to notice an improvement in turf color and density from the Nualgi applied areas. Over the past month, we have been experiencing cold weather and overcast conditions which would typically cause our Ultradwarf bermudagrass to turn purple in color and lose vigor. I have not seen this response with the only change in products applied from last year to this year being the Nualgi. I would encourage all Superintendents to at least trial the product and make a determination for themselves. David Dore-Smith, Copperleaf GC, Bonita Springs FL I used Nualgi all season and really liked the results and will be using as the staple of my fertility going forward. The density that I had on my greens was incredible and N use was nearly non-existent. We had less than 0.4lb N on Bent grass until aeration in September. Finished the year well under 1lb and you all know the course that I try to grow grass in. Color is subtle and results are more prevalent after several apps. I saw a real decrease in ABW activity were this product was used regularly. Arron McCurdy, Metedeconk National, NJ The plant responded well to Nualgi, held good color and I honestly felt like I had found a great micronutrient package Brian Moore, Glen View Club, Golf IL Nualgi is a nano-scale liquid fertilizer that contains all 12-essential macro and micro nutrients on a nano silica base. It is sold in 16oz bottles. Each bottle treats 2.5 acres once every 10 days by simply adding it to your current regime in your spray tank. Nualgi can tank mix with any fertilizer, fungicide or nutrients. Benefits reported by users include improved root and turf density, better color response that lasts longer, lower usage of nitrogen, pesticides, fungicides and insecticides, better roll on the greens and wear resistance in high traffic areas. Silica – The Hidden Cost of Chemicals A major mineral is missing in many soils and most soil tests do not even monitor its presence. This mineral can increase stress resistance, boost photosynthesis and chlorophyll content, improve drought resistance, salt tolerance and soil fertility and prevent lodging. It can also reduce insect pressure, frost damage and destructive disease while lowering irrigation rates, neutralising heavy metal toxicity and countering the negative effects of excess sodium. If I were to tell you that this same missing mineral can increase root growth, boost yield and enhance crop quality, you could well ask, “how could we have overlooked something so important?” and you would be correct. It has been a serious oversight. The mineral in question is silicon , and science is rapidly revealing the scope and scale of our silicon neglect. Poverty in a Sea of Abundance Silicon is not classed as an essential nutrient, but, in response to a wealth of new findings highlighting the importance of this nutrient, that status may soon change. Silicon is the second most abundant mineral on the planet. It is everywhere. Clays are alumina silicates and sand is largely silicon, so how could there be a shortage of silicon? The answer lies in the form of silicon that enters the plant. Plants uptake silicon as silicic acid and this is what is missing in the soil. Something we have done in conventional agriculture appears to have compromised the conversion of insoluble silicon into the plant available form. It may reflect a mineral imbalance, or we may have knocked out some of the soil microbe species that solubilize this mineral. It is not yet understood what drove the widespread deficiency, but we do know that a healthy, disease suppressive soil should contain 100 ppm of monosilicic acid (as measured in a soil analysis) and very few soils come anywhere near that mark! Little was known about the multiple roles of silicon until recently. It was known to be present in every soil, but it was only when it became less plant available that it was realized that there may be a link between this loss and a host of growing problems. During the last decade, silicon seems to have become “flavour of the month” in the soil science community. Researchers have delved more deeply and hundreds of papers have been presented at the International Silicon Conferences in Brazil and South Africa. This neglected mineral is now emerging as a key player in proactive pest and disease management and the production of nutrient dense food. If you are not yet aware of the silicon story then this article should serve to fill some gaps. Cell Strength is Resilience The cell wall in plants is a substantial barrier that must be breached to gain access to the goodies within. A fungal pathogen must drill through this wall with its hyphae to be able to tap into the nutritious cell center. Once this goal is achieved, the pest has the food source that sponsors its spread, and a disease is born. There is an obvious opportunity here to stop the pathogen in its tracks. What happens if we strengthen that cell wall so that the hyphae buckle? It’s simple – the disease cannot gain a foothold and will not spread. Similarly, why would a leaf eating insect choose to wear out his eating gear on silicon-strengthened rock cakes when it can go elsewhere for sponge? Many published papers have now confirmed the exciting potential for increased disease and insect resistance through good silicon nutrition. In one paper presented at the South African conference, soluble silicon used as a soil drench had the equivalent inhibitory effect as phosphorus acid in the management of Phytopthora in avocados. However, the silicon-treated plants had much more vigorous roots and canopies. In another case, silicon was shown to offer effective management of dreaded black sigatoka in bananas. Other papers reported efficacy against brown rust in sugar cane, powdery mildew in cucurbits, Fusarium wilt in potatoes and leaf blast in rice.