Evaluation of Golf Putting Green Management Systems with Reduced Chemical Pesticide Inputs: 2005 Report1

This season represented some significant alterations in cultural and pest management programs. Cultural programs differed only slightly in fertility and cultivation regimes. Mowing height was 0.140”(3.5mm) for all greens. Soil tests have indicated adequate amounts macro and micro-nutrients therefore, alternative culture greens were fertilized with N and iron only supplied as ammonium sulfate and chelated iron. In an effort to acidify the rootzone supporting the velvet bentgrass greens we applied ammonium thiosulfate and chelated iron. The standard culture greens received an array of complete fertilizer products that provide more balanced nutrition. IPM and bio-based reduced risk pest management programs utilized the EIQ formula for pesticide selection. This provides an indication of the relative environmental compatibility of the products. Typically this confined our product selection to those deemed “reduced risk ” or “bio-fungicides ” by the EPA However, lowest labeled rate applications of propiconizole (Banner) were made when fungal diseases became epidemic. These low rate applications are considered reduced risk based on our EIQ calculations. The foundation treatment in our Reduced Risk program was the bi-weekly application of Polyoxin-D (Endorse) and potassium salt of phosphorous acid (Alude. These products ar