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Being precise and efficient is the name of the lawn care game, but it can be tough to strike a good balance.
Mizraim Mata, Plant Health Care Division Manager at The Greenery, has found that balance with Steel Green’s Opti-Rate spray system.
The Moment Of Truth
The Greenery operates a fleet of SG52s, and they’ve been using a new SG52 that’s equipped with Opti-Rate for the past few weeks.
“We mainly do commercial properties and large homeowners associations,” said Mata. “We recently used the Opti-Rate machine at a large HOA, and there are, of course, tons of homes,” said Mata.
“We used it in front of and between the homes, where normally it’s hard to keep up with rate and speed,” said Mata. “We felt that would be the perfect scenario to see the benefits of the system.”
The Results
“We did calculations, and in one application, we saved about $3,000 worth of turf pre-emergent,” said Mata. “It came out to 25 acres worth of it, and we treat just over 300 acres at this property.”
“The performance of the system is great, and the feedback provided by technicians is very promising,” said Mata. “The system was really easy to understand for the technicians.”
“My biggest concern was that there’d be issues with understanding how to operate the system, but it was super easy,” said Mata. “A couple explanations and just using it for a few minutes was more than enough.”
The Overall Impression
“I’m going to push my leadership team to get Opti-Rate in place on our machines, because one of the biggest challenges we have now as an industry is labor,” said Mata.
“Spraying chemicals and treating lawns requires specific skills, and it’s now harder than ever to find people with those skills,” said Mata. “With this system, you pretty much replace that part of the equation.”
“So long as a person can run the machine and mix the rates, the system will do the rest,” said Mata. “That’s the biggest advantage I see with this upgrade.”
Opti-Rate is available as a factory-installed option on all SG36–SG52 machines and comes standard on new SGXL and SG54 models.
Contact us today to learn more about the Opti-Rate system, and add it to your machine to make the most of your spray applications.
