www.weatheroffice.ec.gc.ca
(Environment Canada)
www.theweathernetwork.com
(The Weather Network)
www.weather.com (The Weather Channel)
www.nws.noaa.gov (National Weather Service)
With the golf season upon us, once again we will profile the weather related
resources on the internet. The websites listed above are Environment
Canada, The Weather Network, The Weather Channel (US) and the National Weather
Service (US). All of the websites offer the same basic packages of
weather information, with specialty reports designed for golfing and gardening
etc. The two American websites are so bold to offer ten-day weather
forecasts. To find your local forecast on the Weather Channel site
follow the links to “travel” and the “vacation planner”. The sites
also offer convenient ways to receive the forecast from e-mail to text messaging
on your cell phone.
www.igin.com (Irrigation and Green Industry)
Irrigation and Green Industry is the official publication of the Irrigation
Association. It is in an e-zine format with much to offer from the
website. The main page profiles the current issue of the magazine and
its articles. At the bottom of the main page are links to additional
useful information. Landscaping and Irrigation are two choices.
Within each the articles are subcategorized. Under “irrigation” some
categories are “controllers, valves, technology, maintenance” and a “comparison
chart” section. Here different manufacturer’s products are compared
with each other. The website is translatable into five different languages.
www.turfconnect.com (TURFconnect)
TURFconnect is a website that is designed to appeal to golf course superintendents.
The site is member-based and offers free membership. There is an interactive
forum where you can post questions and reply to others problems. Currently
there are unit conversion and turfgrass fertilizer requirement and spray
calculators. They plan to add further functionality in the future.
The site has potential to be a useful tool for golf course superintendents
and turfgrass professionals.
www.nu-groturf.com
(Nu-Gro Professional Turf Products)
Nu-Gro has recently launched a website that provides the turfgrass professional
with resources such as specification and MSDS sheets for their numerous slow
release fertilizer blends. The site also features educational information
in the “Tutorials” section such as a detailed glossary of fertilizer terms
and a thorough article on essential plant nutrients and their role in plant
health. And they have a listing of links to industry associations,
academic institutions, resources, and turf publications.
www.rittenhouse.ca
(M.K. Rittenhouse & Sons Ltd.)
Over the past year, Rittenhouse has developed a new state-of-the-art E-Commerce
website in celebration of 91 years of business. Building on its first
E-Commerce website launched in 1999, website popularity has grown to over
1.7 million visitors annually, completing thousands of sales worldwide.
With over 11,000 products and parts, Rittenhouse has emerged as one of North
America’s largest horticultural E-commerce websites. The newly upgraded
site now has the ability to save orders for later, easily reorder the same
product, respond to e-emails better, and has a greatly improved search mechanism.
We would like to focus on the mechanics side of the turf industry for the
next issue. So pass this request on to your turfgrass equipment technicians.
If they know of any good websites that they would be willing to share with
others, please email Dave at dallan@nait.ca or Jeff at jeff.hoyem@ualberta.net.
