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IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Tuesday, 29 May 2001 Golf courses are home turf for Integrated Pest Management guidelines Ever wonder how they get golf courses to look like they do? Broad reaches of thick grass ... a mat of healthy turf that rolls softly through sun and shade ... right up to a smooth, closely-cropped no-nonsense green. Bet they just nuke 'em with pesticides, right? Not really, if members of UMass Extension's Turf I Team have anything to say about it. The team has been working for over three years with golf course superintendents to come up with guidelines designed to minimize pesticide usage. Those guidelines are at the heart of a new manual, Protocols for an IPM System on Golf Courses, scheduled for publication in mid-October, and aimed at reducing reliance on pesticides, said Mary Owen, leader of UMass Extension's Turf Team. "UMass and the Golf Course Superintendents Association of New England are actively taking the lead in IPM on golf courses," said Owen. "We want to be reduce reliance on pesticide use, and in order to do that effectively, we have fostered close cooperation between researchers and the golf course industry." Integrated Pest Management is a concrete decision-making process, notes Owen. It involves minimizing pesticides use through careful mapping, monitoring, and "cultural practices," all of which are designed to increase the effectiveness and the efficiency of pesticide use. Keeping grass healthy involves a lot more than pesticide use, and lots can be done to reduce reliance on pesticides. That includes appropriate mowing, watering, fertilizing, aerating, thatch management, top-dressing, soil testing and overseeding. Something as simple as keeping mower blades sharp, for instance, can make blades of grass less susceptible to outside pathogens. Economic and environmental concerns have put golf course superintendents at the forefront of the IPM movement outside the farming sector. Along with wanting to cut the cost of pesticide use on acres of turf, many golf course officials consider themselves to be stewards of the land and of the landscape. "IPM is not new to these people," said Owen. "Most superintendents practice it on some level., and they have been highly successful in meeting the needs of the industry and the public in this particular land use. Healthy turf, you see, protects the environment.” The problem as been that, until now, there has been nothing that has
outlined or documented the components of a complete IPM system. Protocols
for an IPM System on Golf Courses is described as "decision making
tool" that can be used to verify an economically viable, environmentally
sound IPM system which can be customized to fit any The standards outlined in the Protocols have been field-tested for over two years, according to team member Randall Prostak, of the UMass Department of Plant and Soil Sciences. While management practices will vary by course depending on specific objectives, the protocols require the successful completion of all applicable elements of the IPM program. "For us to verify that someone is doing IPM they have to do everything we have listed that is pertinent to a given situation," said Prostak. Aside from providing a way to verify the use of IPM on golf courses, says Prostak, the protocols also provide a model for those outside the industry to specify or identify an IPM program. “It’s something that can be used by local officials, such as conservation commissioners, to identify IPM,” he said. Protocols for an IPM System on Golf Courses was funded with support from
the Lonnie Troll/GCSANE Turf Research Fund, the New England Regional Turfgrass
Foundation, the Joseph Troll Turf Research Foundation, and the For more information, contact: Wesley Blixt ARCHIVE: |
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