Pest management on a golf course can be challenging. Managing pests year after year on a perennial “crop” such as turfgrass with the low tolerance for turf loss on a golf course versus an agricultural crop is challenging, to say the least. Most agricultural row crops aren’t typically grown in such environmentally sensitive areas as some of the world’s finest golf courses. Pest outbreaks can have a devastating impact in these environments and require constant monitoring.
Many of today’s newer chemicals used in the golf course market have very low use rates with greater pest specificity and less off-target effects compared to the older pesticides. As an example, some insecticides will control mole crickets with no activity on grubs, caterpillars or other insects that can also be problematic. There are fungicides that control diseases caused by Pythium but no other diseases, and vice versa. This specificity demands greater attention to monitoring all potential pests as sometimes, when one pest is controlled, others that are unaffected can build in intensity. For this reason, monitoring, mapping, sampling and development of thresholds of concern can be of critical importance in deciding whether to make an application of a pesticide.
Biopesticides often are considerably less expensive than conventional pesticides. A popular Bacillus thuringiensis product labeled for turf use is $15 to $16 a pound with a use rate of 0.5 to 2.0 pounds per acre (0.6 to 2.3 kilograms per hectare). For just one application to 25 acres of fairways for caterpillars, for example, this can save thousands of dollars compared to a standard season-long insecticide. In the case of armyworms, where outbreaks are concentrated around a specific time of the year, a low-cost biopesticide may be attractive..
Pest management on a golf course can be challenging. Managing pests year after year on a perennial “crop” such as turfgrass with the low tolerance for turf loss on a golf course versus an agricultural crop is challenging, to say the least. Most agricultural row crops aren’t typically grown in such environmentally sensitive areas as some of the world’s finest golf courses. Pest outbreaks can have a devastating impact in these environments and require constant monitoring.
Many of today’s newer chemicals used in the golf course market have very low use rates with greater pest specificity and less off-target effects compared to the older pesticides. As an example, some insecticides will control mole crickets with no activity on grubs, caterpillars or other insects that can also be problematic. There are fungicides that control diseases caused by Pythium but no other diseases, and vice versa. This specificity demands greater attention to monitoring all potential pests as sometimes, when one pest is controlled, others that are unaffected can build in intensity. For this reason, monitoring, mapping, sampling and development of thresholds of concern can be of critical importance in deciding whether to make an application of a pesticide.
Biopesticides often are considerably less expensive than conventional pesticides. A popular Bacillus thuringiensis product labeled for turf use is $15 to $16 a pound with a use rate of 0.5 to 2.0 pounds per acre (0.6 to 2.3 kilograms per hectare). For just one application to 25 acres of fairways for caterpillars, for example, this can save thousands of dollars compared to a standard season-long insecticide. In the case of armyworms, where outbreaks are concentrated around a specific time of the year, a low-cost biopesticide may be attractive..
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