a farm for one full year from arrival. He fulfilled that obligation, working in the Brantford area on a dairy farm, and then explored his options, working at various other jobs. One of those positions was part-time, after hours, while working at Silverwood Dairies, driving a truck for an individual who was buying and selling sod—and Fred found his niche.


Claus says, “He felt that the market for turfgrass sod would grow and saw an opportunity to provide the kind of customer service that would allow him to build a good business in that market. He calculated the risk-to-reward factor, then, in 1957, bought his own truck and started Zander Sod Co. Limited.”


Mike Zander is a year-and-a-half older than Claus and, of course, Fred got his two sons involved early on. Claus says, “We’ve been working in the family business from as long as I’ve been breathing and have memory of anything. When Mike and I were kids, we’d help Dad unload the trucks. When we were young teens we were picking up rocks and mowing. When we reached driving age, we started driving the company’s smallest trucks and worked our way up to the 18 wheelers.”


Tis drone-eye view shows the “hub,” of Zander Sod Co. Ltd. operations.


Zander Sod Co. had become a solid business following Fred’s original plan: buying and selling sod. “Ten the sod shortage hit in the ‘70s and we had to either get in or get out,” says Claus. “We calculated the risk-to-reward and started growing our own sod.”


Mike found his calling in growing grass. He’s a hands-on guy who digs into the what and why to produce the best possible product. Tat interest led him to study landscape technology at Humber College where he gained a good overview that focused on the identification, propagation and maintenance of ornamental landscape plants, with a lesser emphasis on turfgrass. He followed that with the renowned Cornell University turfgrass short course and then the intensive, one-month Turf Manager’s Short Course through the Guelph Turfgrass Institute of the University of Guelph. He’s been pursuing ongoing education ever since to “keep up with the ever-changing turfgrass industry.”


Mike says, “I knew the employee who had been managing the bentgrass production, our company’s first specialty grass, was getting close to retirement, so I got the training to step into that position.” He now serves as vice president of specialty grasses.


Claus was more interested in the administrative side of the business. He graduated from Toronto-area Humber


TPI Turf News May/June 2018


College with a diploma in business administration, computer profile. “It wasn’t called computer science back then,” he says. “Our first machine was a Commodore 64. We were so excited to not have to type all the addresses on invoice and statement envelopes!” He worked through all aspects of the administrative side: receivables, payables, pallet control and management, new business development, and he used his education to help with computer automation and problem solving.


Fred was at the helm, serving as company president and assembling and overseeing a staff to fill key positions as the business continued to grow. Claus says, “Tere were no major areas to sort out as Mike and I expanded our roles in the company. Our interests and skillsets pretty much worked it out.”


Te company continued to buy some sod from others for several years. By the mid ‘80s, they were producing all the sod they needed on their own. Claus says, “Working with a combination of owned and leased farms, we were moving equipment between fields that were 30 miles apart. In the ‘90s, we let go the outlying properties, bringing all our growing into one township, with fields no more than 15 miles apart.”


Sod Operations At their largest point, shortly after they bought out M. Smilsky Ltd., when Larry Smilsky retired in 2006, Zander Sod had 3,000 acres in sod production. Now they’re growing just under 2,000 acres, about half owned and half leased. All the fields are sandy-loam. Different fields are heavier and lighter—on purpose—as they have choices on where they lease fields. Te heavier soils are best in the


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