Profile: Steve Wharton - Minot Parks District

Interview by Leslie McGuire, managing editor

Steve Wharton?EUR??,,????'??+Minot Parks District

Steve Wharton is the Certified Grounds Manager and Horticulturist at the Minot Parks District in North Dakota where they definitely make the most of a very short growing season. As former President of the PGMS, and board member for 10 years, Wharton brings years of expertise and a true love of his profession together ?EUR??,,????'??+and it definitely shows.

Wharton started with an Associates degree in horticulture and a business degree from junior college in Fort Worth. He then went on to get a double bachelors degree in horticulture and floriculture, with a business minor from Colorado State. He?EUR??,,????'???s a certified Grounds Manager with PGMS, and is also certified in North Dakota as a pesticide applicator. The Minot Park District was a PGMS Greenstar Award winner in 1997.

The Kentucky bluegrass in the soccer complex is mowed with a three deck Toro. All together, there are 23 acres of turf in the Minot Parks District that require mowing. They also use Smithco field groomers and a Kromer multi purpose vehicle for field grooming and striping.

 

Corbett Field in the baseball complex is Wharton?EUR??,,????'???s baby. The fields are striped in the baseball complex for aesthetic reasons. The turf is Kentucky bluegrass, which is mowed every day during the regular baseball season.

Extensive Responsibilities

The Minot Horticulture Department oversees all the grounds maintenance (except trees) of the parks within the Park District. The Park District has about 700 acres of developed parkland plus an additional 200 acres of undeveloped land for future use.

Wharton?EUR??,,????'???s department mainly runs with seasonal employees. ?EUR??,,????'??We have two full time people,?EUR??,,????'?? he says, ?EUR??,,????'??myself and a horticulturist.?EUR??,,????'?? Up to 35 seasonal employees handle the rest, because the growing season is so short and the cost is lower than full time. Getting seasonal or contract help is easier.

This area of the park is used for picnics, with its covered pavilions. Wharton and his assistant are licensed fertilizer, pesticide and herbicide applicators. A separate forestry department within the park district handles the arbor care.

Wharton has been in the grounds and greenhouse profession for almost 30 years. Running the greenhouses is a year-round operation. One greenhouse is used for producing the plants for spring plantings and the other one is used to hold over exotics and tropicals from Roosevelt Park and the zoo.

Seasonal and Specific Tasks

During the regular baseball season the field is mowed every day. They have underground irrigation on part of the fields and a Kiefco water wheel that they use on the outfield. They have a pumping station and can cover the outfield areas in one evening. ?EUR??,,????'??We will be letting out bids to put in irrigation this year and retire the water wheel,?EUR??,,????'?? says Wharton.

The 72-inch Toros switch over to snow blowers with cabs. They are also used on the outdoor ice skating rink. The deck comes off and has an attachment on the front that is a directional blower. A separate crew dresses the ice in the rink which they flood with water at night and then groom. The rink season is short?EUR??,,????'??+mid November to mid February.

The floral displays at the Zoo entrance, as are all the others, are produced in the greenhouses. Wharton has a crew of four full time seasonal employees who work with him in the greenhouse. He does all the cuttings for the annual production. They use strictly cuttings and plugs because with the short growing season they can bring them in using less heat. Some crops such as petunias and marigolds have a quick turnaround, within 6 weeks.

From Sports Fields to Greenhouses

Corbett baseball field is set up for minor league ball and also used for high school, college and American leagues. Wharton has a seasonal ball park superintendent who has been with the district for over 20 years. ?EUR??,,????'??He?EUR??,,????'???s a retired schoolteacher who studied with George Toma and Floyd Perry. Wharton has a staff of four,?EUR??,,????'?? says Wharton, ?EUR??,,????'??and they do their magic.?EUR??,,????'??

Once the season starts, the tasks for the staff become multifaceted. The greenhouse crew (Wharton supervises all the crews and he?EUR??,,????'???s active with all them) is made up of four seasonal employees who work with him full time in the greenhouse. Running the greenhouse is a year-round operation. Just transplanting and spraying is a lot of work.

?EUR??,,????'??In the future, retaining labor will be the biggest challenge. To maintain what we have will get harder and harder as time goes on.?EUR??,,????'??

The rest of the staff does the various other jobs maintaining the two major parks. He has a crew of four in each of those parks, mowing, watering, trimming, trash pickup, cleaning restrooms and shelters. They don?EUR??,,????'???t do arboriculture or building maintenance. Wharton has another crew of six that takes care of mowing the other 900 acres of neighborhood parks and undeveloped park areas. Most are maintained weekly, weather permitting.

The major parks are mowed twice a week. Wharton?EUR??,,????'???s crew is responsible for taking care of the grounds and floral displays in the Roosevelt zoo, but snow removal and the insides of the animal pens are taken care of by others.

The pond is planted with zone three and four perennials giving continuous color from early spring to fall. In the background note the small train replica that carries people around the park.

Mosquito Heaven, Dandelion Delight

Wharton relies heavily on having a seasonal supervisor in each area that he can meet with and coordinate events and issues for each part of the park system.

His assistant does most of the coordination of fertilization and the chemical control program. ?EUR??,,????'??We use as little chemical control as possible and only spray when needed,?EUR??,,????'?? says Wharton. ?EUR??,,????'??We do ground applications for weed or pest control with the sprayer. We are mosquito heaven, so we do both ground application and a fogger mounted on the back of a pickup on the years when mosquitoes are really bad.?EUR??,,????'??

Wharton grows 12 to 15,000 4-inch plants and display pot plants per season for use in the beds and numerous decorative containers They start full fledged growing in the greenhouses at the end of March. Planting time is shortly after memorial day, the last frost date.

Their major weeds are dandelion and bindweed, which they try to control the best they can but it?EUR??,,????'???s semi arid, and in irrigated areas, irrigation controls them. Their biggest pest is mosquito, but the aphid problem is pretty bad early in the season. If they can get that under the control early they can nip it in the bud. They also have cut worms and red spider.

?EUR??,,????'??We do visual inspections and if we see something cropping up, we take action,?EUR??,,????'?? says Wharton. ?EUR??,,????'??Since we have such a high public exposure, however, we are very careful about when we spray and what we spray with.?EUR??,,????'??

They take care of all seasonal beds throughout the park district. Wharton has numerous beds to manage as well as responsibility for containers, hanging baskets and all the floriculture including that in the Roosevelt Park Zoo.

The Biggest Challenge

?EUR??,,????'??The biggest challenge facing us right now is labor,?EUR??,,????'?? says Wharton. ?EUR??,,????'??Good quality labor is becoming harder and harder to find. We are at almost zero unemployment both in the city and the state, especially in a seasonal or part time capacity. We?EUR??,,????'???ve had to increase our wages to entice employees. When you find a really good seasonal staff member, you do what you can to hang onto them.?EUR??,,????'??

If anyone can make it happen and keep the Minot Parks District beautiful, Steve Wharton will do it and do it well.