meeting to determine what should be covered. Te main points of discussion focus on any issues we might have, how to resolve them, and how to prevent them from happening again. It’s just the standard procedure that we continually exercise to reduce issues.”
Claus has incorporated drone monitoring into the management program, flying it to photograph their fields to provide images to post on the website as a marketing tool and to share weekly with the staff. “It gives a visual report of conditions. We can show our office personnel a shot of the trucks being towed in through the mud and then towed out to the middle of a 100-acre field, where the mud would be up to their knees. A picture is worth a thousand words when it comes to explaining why harvesting is slow this week.”
Te photos are a turfgrass management tool, too. Stress and problem areas are more easily spotted from the aerial view than by looking across the horizontal plain. Claus also is planning to expand into infrared imaging by drone, acting on information shared by Dr. Doug Karcher in his presentation, “An Overview of Technology Tools Available for Sod Producers,” at the 2018 TPI Conference.” (A video of this presentation is available online on TPI’s Turfgrass Education Center.)
Claus says, “Infrared imaging would show mild stress too difficult to discern with the naked eye or the standard photo images the drone currently delivers. Tat’s especially important for early treatment of insect or disease issues as residential customers have zero tolerance for turf problems because of Ontario’s Cosmetic Pesticide Ban.” Mike adds, “It also would be helpful to know where the mild stress is occurring, so we could determine which areas need attention—and which don’t.”
Industry Involvement Zander Sod’s involvement with TPI goes back a long time, starting when Fred first joined, began attending the Conferences, and then bringing his sons to them, too. Claus Zander served on the TPI Board of Trustees for seven years, including his stint as TPI President in 2010-2011.
He says, “I truly enjoyed my time on the TPI Board. It was a great learning experience and I’m very thankful to all the others serving; they taught me so much. Te friendships made during those years of working together will last a lifetime. Tere is so much to be learned amongst our peers, whether they grow warm- or cool-season grasses, many of the cultural practices are similar, and we all encounter the same personnel, customer, and business operational issues. I learn something new at every conference.”
Claus and Mike have both served on the Board of the Nursery Sod Growers Association of Ontario (NSGA), and Claus served as President prior to serving on the TPI Board. Both remain active in that association as well.
40 Claus and Nancy visited the Arctic Circle on last summer’s motorcycle trip.
Family Matters Te Zander family finds some time for fun as well. Claus reports that snowmobiling is a shared passion, usually between 4,000 to 5,000 miles (6437–8046 km) each winter. “In the summer months, we love to get out on our motorcycles. Last summer, Nancy and I rode from Cookstown across Canada to Yukon and up to Inuvik, Northwest Territories, that last 454 miles (730 km) all on shale gravel—the furthest north road in the country! Ten we went south to Fairbanks, Alaska, on south through British Columbia, to San Francisco and then to Phoenix.” Te bikes were in Albuquerque, NM, this spring, when Claus and Nancy planned to fly there and ride them home.
Mike, and his wife, Francine, a registered nurse who works in a mental health position helping troubled youth, have three children. Daniel is 28, works in sales and lives three-hours away. He and his wife, Chantel, have a 2-year- old, Anastasia. Nicolas is 25, a volunteer firefighter, who is currently working with his Dad. Monique, 22, will earn her degree in psychology this spring; then take a year off to work and decide her next step. Claus has no children.
Tere will be multiple options for Claus and Mike and Zander Sod Co. Limited in the future, and they are sure to calculate the risk-to-reward factor before determining which merit action.
Suz Trusty is co-editor of Turf News. All photos courtesy of Te Zander Family
TPI Turf News May/June 201820
Zander Sod Co. Ltd. is one of eight companies to be NSGA Green Certified, another indication of their forward thinking. (For details on the program, visit: http://
www.nsgao.com/green-certification.) Claus says, “Tere’s a lot of misinformation and misinterpretation out there. Becoming Green Certified helps to make sure you’re doing everything correctly, which is what we should all be doing anyway. If something does go wrong, you can show that you’d done your due diligence to avoid and reduce the risks. It’s a step every company should take.”
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