Integrated Pest Management

Nursery after tarp removal

                   

"IPM is a sustainable approach to managing pests by combining biological, cultural, physical and chemical tools in a way that minimizes economic, health, and environmental risks." (North Dakota State University) The above definition states my philosophy for integrated pest management.

             Integrated pest management is melded into everything we do on the golf course. As the best management strategy for reduction of pests is a healthy turf grass plant. We will be performing the various cultural practices needed to promote a healthy plant.  While the use of pesticides is a necessary practice, a solid agronomic plan will reduce the need for them, which will reduce spraying costs and inputs into the environment.  Research cultivars so that you can pick the grass most suited for your area.

Snow mould damage #16 fairway

In order to determine when action should be take thresholds must be determined. A threshold is predetermined percent of the amount of a pest you will allow in a certain area before you take action to control it.  On a golf course the three main areas of concern are greens, tees, and fairways.

The threshold for greens with all pests (insects, diseases, and weeds) is zero this is because greens receive the highest amount of play and any amount of damage can cause negative effects on playability.  Monitoring for disease will occur by the pinsetter every day so that this threshold can be maintained.

For tees a threshold of 5% is acceptable for disease, insects, and weeds. Because all of these are capable of doing reasonable damage their threshold is all five percent. Due to the fact that tee boxes must be able to recover quickly from high amounts of play anything that inhibits that ability must be kept to a minimum and that is the reasoning behind a low threshold.

Due to the large area fairways take up 20% is a reasonable threshold. It allows time for decisions while not necessarily causing a high amount of damage if the threshold were met.