Starting as a part time venture for founder, Ken Rost, in 2006, Frost Inc is now a nationally known company for spray technologies and spray equipment located in Saint Croix Falls, Wisconsin. Frost has been an affiliate member of the MGCSA almost from the start and the staff at Frost value their relationships with MGCSA members. The mission of Frost Inc is to use the best technologies to solve problems for customers. This is done by listening to the people involved and recognizing the issues that can be improved. All of Frost Inc’s featured products have been developed in this manner.
Frost started in 2006 building foam frost protection equipment for high value crops, such as berries and nursery propagation beds. It was even tested on putting greens to mitigate desiccation damage to turf during cold weather without snow cover. Frost also introduced the BunkerBlaster bunker pump to the golf market, as well as air induction technology spray tips in the early years.
Next was the development of the Ultimix. Many sprayers had poor agitation and getting some turf care products into solution was problematic. The Ultimix was designed to pre-mix difficult solutions in an aggressive agitation system before being loaded into the sprayer tank. The result was better mixing, safer mixing, and faster spray jobs. Faster, because the sprayer can be out spraying instead of waiting in the chemical bay to do the mixing.
A large step in the world of spray technology was taken by Frost in 2012 with the introduction of the Seletron GPS guided spray system with individual nozzle control. This amazing technology turns on and off nozzles individually and automatically as the sprayer goes over areas that have already been sprayed. This takes the burden of controlling full boom sections away from the operator and allows for more accurate, faster and efficient applications. Frost was one of the first of just a couple companies offering this technology in 2012 and the features of this system still have competitive advantages over other systems that have entered the market more recently.
Along with GPS spray control comes the need for developing maps to allow operators to specifically define intended spray
areas and rates. Dr. Kirk Stueve joined Frost to train staff on the mapping process and the use of vegetative Index image analysis as a tool to help in the agronomic decision process. However, even with these powerful tools, there is a resistance to change in the golf industry regarding spray applications. For this reason, Frost has partnered and provided equipment to leading Universities around the country to research how GPS maps and sprayers can reduce input costs and lower the environmental impacts. Cornell has studied and reported the input savings and the environmental impact, University of Nebraska-Lincoln has studied precision application relative to over application of PGR’s and collar approach decline from over suppression. Texas A&M is studying the relationship between NDVI/NDRE imagery and true turf health. And the University of Minnesota uses Frost technology at the Troe Center for a variety of current studies.
Frost has also been transformed in the past few years with professional staff using Computer Aided Design (CAD) and updated fabrication tools. This has led to the ability to mass produce sprayer frames to have a more consistent product line. The Ninja Kubota sprayer is an example of success using these modern manufacturing tools. The Ninja sprayer is a turn-key machine ready for use with GPS control, 4-wheel independent suspension, optional auto-steer and sonic boom leveling. It is a ‘dream’ sprayer designed and built by a sprayer focused company.
Another recent innovative project was developing a spray attachment for the Toro Outcross machine. The Outcross platform was designed for versatility and Frost jumped at the chance to develop a sprayer attachment for it. The 300 gallon sprayer attachment balances out the machine and it has a 20’ or 30’ spray boom with GPS spray control. With the 30’ boom, three swipes of most fairways and you are done! After spraying, the boom can be detached and the tank system can be used for special irrigation, or the tank can be removed, too, in a matter of minutes.
The next steps for Frost will be peering into the future of drone spraying. In addition to the normal regulatory agencies overseeing spray applications, spraying with drones involves the FAA as well. Frost has satisfied the requirements to spray with drones and will be working with high value crops such as pumpkins, vineyards, cannabis, and others. Frost will be listening
to see if there are opportunities to spray on golf courses as well.
Not always do problems need to be solved with high technology. Sometimes it is as simple as changing to a better spray tip to
make an improvement in spray performance. Or maybe it’s a change of tank agitators to a more efficient style. Whether it is a need for improvements to an existing sprayer or a need for a whole new machine, the professionals at Frost are willing to help. Their experience with spray technology is available to you, to help improve your spraying experience.
To learn more about what Frost Inc can do for you, visit www.frostserv.com or call 1-800-621-7910