1. Turfgrass Pest Management
Training for Commercial Pesticide Applicators
Category 3A
2. Principles of Pest Management
Chapter 1
3. A pesticide applicator is not merely a person who applies pesticides. Social and legal responsibility accompanies the use of toxic materials.
4. Properly applied pesticides protect plant material from pest injury without endangering nontarget organisms. To meet this goal, you must consider the system as a whole - the pest, its environment, and the impact of management activities.
5. In other words, use an Integrated Pest Management system.
6. As defined in the core manual, IPM is the use of all available strategies to manage pests so that an acceptable yield and quality can be achieved economically with the least disruption to the environment.
7. Pest control strategies used for IPM of turfgrass include:
- resistant grass species and varieties
- cultural practices
- natural enemies
- mechanical controls
- pesticides
IPM is not anti-pesticide, but rather pesticides are used only when necessary and according to label directions.
8. IPM has long been successfully used in agriculture. It was encouraged after the undesirable consequences of widespread pesticide overuse and misuse in the 1960's occurred. The experiences of farmers using what were believed to be "miracle" synthetic pesticides, such as DDT, has taught us that:
- No one method of pest control achieves long-term pest management.
- Pest management is just one component of plant care.
- IPM often reduces pest management costs by reducing unnecessary pesticide applications.
- IPM minimizes pesticide failures due to pest resistance and destruction of natural enemies.
- Use of nonchemical controls means pest management is less threatening to nontarget organisms, including humans.
9. Integrated Pest Management is a systematic approach to pest management broken down into five steps. Each step is a necessary part of IPM. Apply these steps in each pest management situation.
IPM Steps for Turf
- Detection of agents injuring turfgrass.
- Identification of agents injuring turfgrass.
- Economic significance.
- Selection of management methods.
- Evaluation and recordkeeping.
10. Detection, even before pest populations reach damaging levels, is vital to successful IPM. Turf managers gain several benefits by regularly monitoring their sites.
11. Benefits of monitoring:
- determine which pest specie(s) are present.
- determine which life cycle stage of the pest is present.
- detect low-level pest populations so that
- significant injury has not yet occurred.
- a variety of management techniques will maintain pest populations at low density.
- less toxic methods may be used to control low-level rather than outbreak pest populations.
12. There are a number of ways to monitor turf for information used in pest management. All of these methods simply make it easier to recognize pests and their damage.
13. Visual inspection of turf means getting down on your hands and knees. Concentrate on the edge of the damaged area where fungal disease and insects are likely to be abundant. Watch for movement and check blades and thatch for insect cases or frass, or fungal fruiting bodies.
14. The coffee can technique is used to flush turf insects out of grass crowns and thatch. Drive a 2-pound coffee can with both ends removed, a couple of inches into turf. Fill the can with water and wait a few minutes for insects to float to the surface.
15. A disclosing solution is an irritant which causes turf organisms to move to the surface of turf where they can readily be seen and counted. An effective irritant consists of half-rate pyrethrin, or detergent and water. Apply one gallon of disclosing solution per square foot of turf.
16. Root-feeding grubs are exposed by cutting a section of injured turf and rolling it back. A golf hole cup-cutter is also a useful tool for taking samples.
17. Observe the development of pests to know when they are susceptible to management tactics. Both plant growth and pest development depend on the amount of heat that surrounds them. Pest activity can often be predicted by monitoring weather conditions and the accumulation of heat units called Degree Days. The Orton system of Pest Management and the Crop Advisory Team Alert, Landscape Edition, identify what stage of pest development occurs at specific degree day totals.
18. To be useful in turf pest management, detection information should include details such as specific area injured, and level or injury, or number of pests present per sample area. Use a standardized monitoring sheet to collect and file this information.
19. An organism should not be considered a pest until it is identified as one. MOST organisms are not pests! To recognize turf disorders and identify the cause, you must be familiar with the healthy grass plant. Know the weaknesses and growing preferences of the grass varieties you manage.
20. Similarly, be familiar with the causes of turf injury:
Know agents damaging plants:
* cultural and environmental conditions are the greatest contributor to turf injury in the landscape.
* weeds are a constant problem for highly-visible, high-maintenance lawns.
* infectious diseases of turf are caused by various species of fungi. Some can seriously injure turf.
- insect pests do not commonly cause significant turf injury, but they have the potential.
- animal pests such as moles can be highly destructive and are difficult to prevent or control.
21. Turf disorder diagnosis is often complicated. Frequently, clients do not recognize and respond to injured turf until long after pest activity is complete. Then, the only obvious visual evidence that a pest problem occurred are the brown spots in the lawn.
22. Carefully evaluate how the growing conditions are effecting the turf. Ask the client about maintenance practices and unusual use of turf in the past. Bring along the necessary tools for thorough investigation and root, soil, and sample collection. These may include trowel, knife, soil probe, cut coffee can and specimen bags. Have ready access to reference books, your records, and fellow diagnosticians. Remember, it is possible to find more than one disorder occurring on turf at the same time.
23. All pest management activities have costs in terms of materials, time, or environmental contamination. The costs of management tactics must be justified by an equal or greater benefit. This cost-benefit principle is an important component of integrated pest management and is the basis for the economic injury level.
24. Economic Significance
- The economic injury level is the density of pests at which the cost to manage the pest is equal to the economic losses the pest causes. Here cost refers to losses in cash crops, or death of grass plants.
- Injury that is strictly cosmetic results in losses in use or enjoyment of turf. These losses may not have a price tag. What is considered unacceptable damage that requires action is largely the opinion of the homeowner or turf manager.
- The action threshold is the pest density at which measures must be taken to prevent the pest from reaching the economic injury level. Michigan State University researchers have determined quantitative action thresholds for many turf pests. These action thresholds give what is an acceptable number of insects found using specific detection techniques. Make use of this information and take action before injury occurs.
25. Turf pest populations may never reach damaging levels because of plant resistance, unfavorable weather conditions, and natural enemies. Therefore, the presence of a pest does not necessarily mean that management measures must be taken. Turfgrass is more likely to be injured when growing in poor sites or when the same variety is planted in large numbers. Unfortunately, turf managers commonly encounter these situations. The economic injury level is set with consideration to the potential for serious injury and the use of the turf area:
Setting Economic Injury Levels - Consider:
- Client's tolerance of pest damage. Help the client distinguish between aesthetic and health-threatening injury. IPM cannot succeed when tolerances are unreasonably low
- Visibility or use of the turf stand. Golf course superintendents set lower economic injury levels for greens and tees than for roughs. Greens and tees are the turf focal points and center of use on the course.
- Level of maintenance. Low tolerance of pests goes hand-in-hand with high-maintenance turf.
- Health and vigor of grass plants is key to turf's ability to withstand and recover from pest injury.
- The pests's potential for injury.
- Expected pest reduction by natural controls. A high action level is possible when conditions unfavorable to the pest are expected.
26. Personal and peer experience, and references will help you set injury thresholds for turf. Remember, setting injury levels which reflect specific pest and host conditions is the cornerstone of IPM.
27. Many factors limit pest populations including cultural practices, weather, natural enemies, and plant defenses. When pests are not sufficiently limited by naturally occurring factors, action must be taken by the turf manager.
28. Tactics best to use for a specific pest situation depends upon the biology of the pest and grass stand, and use of turf. Choose methods that:
- are least toxic to nontarget organisms.
- enhance natural controls.
- most likely to permanently limit the pest.
- are least hazardous for the applicator to handle.
- are most likely to remain on the target area.
29. You also need to consider logistical limitations to your pest management activities for your IPM program to be effective and practical. Factors that limit your choice of options include:
- Budget
- Availability of equipment
- Availability of labor
- Time
- Availability of products
- Public/client acceptance of methods
30. A frequently overlooked, but essential part of successful IPM is evaluation of management tactics. Several questions should be answered through evaluation:
- Was turf protected from serious injury?
- Did the method result in negative consequences such as contamination of the environment or secondary pests?
- Were the methods practical to implement?
- Were pest management actions cost effective?
31. Evaluate your pest management efforts by using the monitoring techniques. Remember, the value of your evaluation directly depends upon how completely and accurately you keep records.
32. Turfgrass pests cannot be maintained below threshold levels over long periods of time solely through the use of pesticides.
33. Turf managers seeking practical, economical, and environmentally-sound pest management must use all of the steps of integrated pest management.