It’s Saturday morning. You’ve just completed your weekly client meetings, job quotes, and supply orders, and you have some free time. Usually, this time would be used to service your heavy-duty mowers or refuel the work trucks as you prepare for next week’s contracts. Old-school methods and equipment have gotten the job done so far, but what if there was an alternative?
What if we told you that the future of turf management isn’t about more powerful mowers or a higher volume of fertilizers but instead lies in adopting innovative and sustainable tech solutions? Let’s shed some light on the sustainable turf management happening right now.
What is turf management?
Turf management, especially when you’re servicing multiple properties in a week, requires more advanced maintenance. It involves understanding that each lawn is a distinct ecosystem. Sustainable turf management means nurturing these ecosystems while ensuring that your services remain efficient and eco-friendly.
But what has sustainable turf management got to do with landscape contractors? More than you may think. Managing pests, maintaining hydration levels, avoiding overgrowth…you tackle all this and much more on your daily site visits. By adopting sustainable principles and technologies in turf management, you can effectively lessen the physical workload for your team while leaving the clients happier with their greener lawns.
Where turf management meets technology.
Smart irrigation
Old sprinklers tend to overwater or underwater, often leading to water waste or weak turfs suffering from dehydration respectively. Thankfully we now have automated solutions. Smart irrigation technology helps landscape contractors manage large properties more efficiently, reducing manual labor and water waste.
Smart irrigation systems utilize sensor data to determine factors such as soil moisture levels, rainfall probability and evapotranspiration rate, and they release water only when absolutely necessary. This clever technology can prevent unnecessary watering and conserve a significant amount of this precious resource.
With 5G and IoT advancements, we’re looking at smarter systems that will push the boundaries of cost-efficiency and precision in the near future.
Solar-powered irrigation systems
Unfortunately, many jobsites don’t have readily available power sources right in the middle of their lawn for the setup of traditional irrigation infrastructure. The solar-powered version is a simple, eco-friendly alternative that can be installed without a headache or need for a power cord tangling around the property.These irrigation systems have photovoltaic panels that generate electricity and are used to pump water from a well, pond, or even a water barrel.
There are already some efforts made to add SCADA-based features on these solar-powered variants like having a soil moisture or a rain sensor and adjusting the irrigation schedule accordingly.
Google "weed view"
Most of us use Google Maps just to navigate our way to that new coffee shop or see how our childhood home looks after all these years, but it has potential applications in sustainable turf management. Modern weed detection technologies are integrating AI with image capture capabilities to map out turfs.
These systems can identify specific types of weeds and provide accurate information about their location and density. For a contractor managing multiple properties, this accurate weed mapping could save huge amounts of time and effort spent in treating the problematic areas.
These studies have been successful in detecting the weed using AI and Google’s Street View technology, which can provide us with optimized solutions for efficient weed management.
Pest management technology
For a landscaping business dealing with various insects and pests across different properties, technology is indeed the way forward.Digital image processing and computer vision, powered by AloT, can automatically detect and quantify insect pests on your turf. This is already happening in the agricultural sector.
We are also seeing the development of early warning models that utilize multidimensional data from various sensors to anticipate various pests. These sensors collect data regarding temperature, humidity and wind speed, which contribute to pest propagation and growth. The collected data is then used to predict pest population dynamics even before they become an issue.
Biostimulants for turf health
Research has shown that the use of biostimulants can significantly improve turf’s resilience to various stressors, including extreme weather, damage caused by pests and heavy foot traffic. These include traditional composts and manures along with relatively new materials like humic acids or protein hydrolysates.
The use of these resources promotes turf health from a cellular level, making your clients' turf stronger and less reliant on synthetic substances for growth. This also means fewer chances of sections dying off and the wastage of labor in fixing dead patches. For a client who's keen on sustainability, the reduced use of synthetic substances is an added bonus.
Robotic mowers
Robotic mowers are programmed to avoid obstacles and return to their docking stations when low on battery, and some can even be managed via smartphone apps.
IoT technology and artificial intelligence are perfecting these little helpers, making them smarter and more efficient.
Change starts from the ground up
So yes, instead of wielding a water hose unnecessarily or removing every single weed by hand, these new technologies and methods allow landscape contractors like you to be more efficient and environmentally friendly. The incorporation of these sustainable measures not only results in cost-effective solutions, better maintenance, healthier turf growth and, most importantly, happier clients.
While many of these technologies are still in their developing stages or not widely available, it’s increasingly possible for every home to adopt these sustainable turf management methods.
