September 8, 2015 – A new and innovative sustainable organic technology called the STEP System (Structured Treatment to Enhance Productivity) is now available to golf course superintendents in addition to the farmers for which it was intended. This System significantly increases the growth of vigorous , healthy turf grass & plants with significant reductions in irrigation and fertilizer requirements.
This System has been developed and proven in Northern India with over five years of research on more than 120,000 acres of field trials in soils almost devoid of nutrients and in temperatures of 115+ F and still resulted in an overabundance of quality crops. Aside from agricultural crops, the plants grown included turf grasses and shrubs of all kinds with equally beneficial results.
The three basic STEP System products are comprised of a hand selected consortium of beneficial soil microbes called Biovac applied at 50 grams per acre; Biovamos endo-mycorrhizae fungi at more than 50,000 spores per gram applied at only 10 grams per acre and Regalis SP, a high concentration of organics applied at 200 grams per acre.
The same STEP System is now available to golf course superintendents due to the recent approvals for marketing the System in the USA provided by the USDA, CDC and CDPR here in California.
The benefits of use appear to be: a dramatic increase in the improvement of soil conditions that favor increased moisture retention; reduced erosion; increased agglomeration of soil particles resulting in greater moisture holding capacity; dramatic increases in root mass; a reduction in water usage; a substantial reduction of nitrogenous fertilizer usage; a significant reduction in the incidence of soil borne pathogens ultimately resulting in significantly more vigorous plants grown at a substantially lower cost. It is an extremely economical system since it uses just grams per acre of these highly concentrated microbial and fungal products that assist in replenishing the soil with a continuous supply of beneficial organic exudates, phyotochemicals for optimum turf & plant growth. In addition, this System provides the continual uptake of nutrients and moisture from far below the root zone which grows turfgrass & plants to their optimum. The blades of grass will be green from soil to tip without any white or brown color at the base of the blade allowing for close cut grass to remain green without any visible brown areas after mowing.
As the products that make up this system have now been approved for use we wish to inform the golf course superintendent that this system will grow healthier, greener grass and plants, with far fewer if any soil borne pathogens, all while reducing irrigation requirements. We will offer the products at no cost for limited areas to the first 50 requests so that these golf course superintendents can observe the benefits of the STEP System for their courses first hand.
