IPM at Longwood

As a sports turf manager at the Longwood Cricket club, a priority of my job is the safety of the players. On the grass courts this means striving for a dry, consistent, even surface with good grass cover.

Another part of safety is having a healthy environment for the players, spectators, neighbors and Mother Nature. To help achieve this we use Integrated Pest Management (IPM.) Controlling pests is one of the most important factors in maintaining vigorous turf. Pests can include disease, insects and weeds. Longwood’s four and a half acres of grass tennis courts, cut at .325 inches, is not a natural occurrence in nature. Therefore it is more vulnerable to pests that want to make our grass their homes and source of food.

A straightforward definition of IPM from the UMass turf website is: Integrated Pest Management is an effective environmentally friendly approach to pest management that relies on a combination of commonsense practices.
UMass turf entomologist, Dr. Vittum calls IPM “Intelligent Plant Management.”

The first thing most people think of when pest management is mentioned is pesticides. Pesticides are part of an IPM program and a viable option, but only after other options have been tried. The most important factor in dealing with pests is starting out with a healthy stand of turfgrass. Healthy grass can usually tolerate one or two stresses at a time, but once pests start piling on, problems start to appear.

Healthy grass starts with having the right personnel. At Longwood the grounds staff has lots of experience, four have agronomic degrees and five have Massachusetts pesticide licenses. The proactive staff is out there:
Scouting – always on the look out for problems.
Record keeping – detailed accounts of where pests are a problem and how they were treated.
Education – Investigating new procedures in turfgrass maintenance.
Implementing a sound agronomic program.

If we do find a pest problem and it exceeds established thresholds, action is taken. Using commonsense and experience works best. If there are 200 goosegrass weeds on the grass courts, we don’t apply a herbicide, we pick them out by hand. Annual bluegrass weevil insects attack our grass every year. Insecticide is needed. Instead of blanketing the entire property with insecticide, we have sprayed just the edges of the courts where the weevils walk in from. This way we can use much less insecticide and still attain good results. When weather dictates that a particular fungal disease outbreak may occur we can make a preventative fungicide application. Being proactive using preventative fungicides allows for fewer applications using lower amounts of active ingredient. If we wait until a curative fungicide application is needed, more frequent and higher pesticide rates are required.

Although we strive to lessen the use of pesticides at Longwood, they are a necessity. Measures are taken to make applications as safe as possible. Most applications are made with a sprayer, early in the morning before members arrive and neighbors are up. Early morning usually means less wind, cutting down on the potential for drift. This timing also enables courts to open on time, as entry to the courts is not allowed until the area is completely dry. Pesticide warning signs are posted in conspicuous areas for 24 hours after any application.

Choice of pesticide is also important. There are an immense amount of products to choose from. Many have different modes of action and are applied at different rates. Education is key because new, more effective products with very low toxicity are constantly coming onto the market. When choosing a product we look at effectiveness, cost, mode of action, chemical class and toxicity. With few exceptions, the pesticides we use have very little toxicity to vertebrates, birds or fish and are used at very low rates. For example, a typical fungicide is used with 20 oz. of product per acre (the size of the terrace) diluted in 80 gallons of water. The toxicity of the undiluted product is less than aspirin or caffeine. Low use rate and low toxicity level products are utilized, but great care is still taken on every application. Alternate pest control products such as nematodes and bacteria are starting to come on the market but most are not very effective - more independent research is needed on their use if they are to become an important part of an IPM program.

IPM is a tool we embrace at Longwood. Our approach is to reduce pesticide use and control pests in the most efficient way possible. Having a safe environment for all at Longwood is a priority.