Kohler Engines announced that its 1028cc, 3-cylinder Kohler diesel engine is now powering two Polaris off-road vehicles. The Kohler KDW1003 will be standard on 2015 model year Ranger diesel and Ranger Crew diesel vehicles.
By Luke Frank
If you believe irrigation consultants just know sprinkler systems, you’re way off the mark. The American Society of Irrigation Consultants (ASIC) has spent the past 40-plus years training and supporting irrigation professionals in the industry in emerging water codes and regulations, water resource development and quality, turf management, soil science, chemistry, agronomy, horticulture, business development, marketing -- you get the idea.
We caught up with Jeff Bruce, ASIC immediate past president, and principal of Jeffrey L. Bruce & Company (JLB) in North Kansas City, MO. Bruce founded JLB in 1986, and has rocketed to the top of the sports turf industry since, completing about 600 professional and NCAA sports complexes in the past 10 years alone, including Yankee Stadium, Notre Dame Athletic Complex, and INVESCO Field.
We asked Bruce what’s trending in sports turf irrigation. His vision of the future might surprise you -- it did us.
Landscape and Irrigation recently asked a wide range of equipment manufacturers and suppliers to share their insights about the equipment market, and how the trends they are seeing will impact equipment decisions made by landscape industry professionals. The observations of the respondents are as follows:
Not that long ago, the traditional approach to stormwater management focused on directing the runoff, created by torrential downpours, from a site into the sewer system and eventually into a river basin. This practice often resulted in the erosion of stream beds and river banks, and has led to the contamination/poor health of numerous bodies of water throughout the country.
The Australia green roof and wall industry has grown more than 50 percent in the last year. Sydney, Australia is poised to host to the World Green Infrastructure Congress this October, bringing together industry professionals, researchers, government officials and organizations throughout the world. Presented by the World Green Infrastructure Network and Green Roofs Australasia, the conference will shine a spotlight on green roof and wall opportunities in a market that has $5.17 billion gross national revenue for the landscape industry and $18.2 billion in revenue for the national horticulture market.
Husqvarna shares its birth year with… Johann Sebastian Bach.
One of the world’s greatest composers remains a powerful force in classical music because of the quality of his work -- which consists of over 1,000 elegant pieces of music -- from concertos and cantatas to sonatas and orchestral suites.
Like the Baroque works of the adored German musician, appreciated as much for his technical command as his artistry, Husqvarna too has endured for 325 years. But while Bach’s compositions -- of course -- have not changed in that time, Husqvarna’s output has evolved dramatically over 3-1/4 centuries.
Outdoor kitchens, fire pits and pergolas are buzzwords for residential landscape contractors. Demand for these design features remains strong. In a survey conducted by the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA), which polled residential landscape architects about the estimated popularity of various design elements for 2014, 94.2% of respondents agreed gardens/landscaped spaces would be the hottest trend of the season; and 92% anticipated kitchens and entertainment spaces would also be in high demand.
If your clients already trust you with their landscape, lawn, or property maintenance, you are in the perfect position to start caring for their trees. That said, tree health care is also a service that can seriously damage your reputation if you do it wrong. Screw up someone’s turf pretty bad and you might get stuck re-sodding a section of the property. Screw up someone’s 100 year-old oak tree and there is very little you can do the remedy that. When you take on a new venture, you put the reputation of your business on the line. Your customers won’t care if you’re new at this -- they have service expectations that have to be met. So what resources are available to help you be successful?