Prospects for Managing Turfgrass Pests with Reduced Chemical Inputs

Abstract

Turfgrass culture, a multibillion dollar industry in the United States, poses unique challenges for integrated pest management. Why insect control on lawns, golf courses, and sport fields remains insecticide-driven, and how entomological research and extension can best support nascent initiatives in environmental golf and sustainable lawn care are explored. High standards for aesthetics and playability, prevailing business models, risk management-driven control decisions, and difficulty in predicting pest outbreaks fuel present reliance on preventive insecticides. New insights into pest biology, sampling methodology, microbial insecticides, plant resistance, and conservation biological control are reviewed. Those gains, and innovations in reduced-risk insecticides, should make it possible to begin constructing holistic management plans for key turfgrass pests. Nurturing the public's interest in wildlife habitat preservation, including beneficial insects, may be one means to change aesthetic perceptions and gain leeway for implementing integrated pest management practices that lend stability to turfgrass settings.

Host Plant Resistance of Cool-Season (C3) Turfgrasses to Above- and Belowground Feeding by <I>Tipula paludosa</I> (Diptera: Tipulidae)

“…As a method of plant protection, selection of host plants that incorporate multiple lines of defense can greatly enhance integrated pest management (IPM) programs aimed at safeguarding grass-based systems (Reinert et al 2004, Held andPotter 2012). Each type of host plant resistance, whether antixenosis (preference, behavior), antibiosis (insect physiological response), or plant tolerance can increase protection against the detrimental impacts of insect herbivory.…”

Naturalized habitat on golf courses: source or sink for natural enemies and conservation biological control?

“…In agricultural landscapes, conservation strips, beetle banks, or uncultivated corridors or boundaries may serve as sources or sinks for natural enemies depending on the extent to which the latter disperse from or remain in such patches, as well as the size, quality, spatial arrangement, and connectivity of the crop and non-crop habitats (Pulliam 1998, Tscharntke andBrandl 2004;Tscharntke et al 2005;Blaauw and Isaacs 2015). Those concepts have thus far received little research in lawn or golf course settings (Held and Potter 2012), and those studies that have been done have been focused at relatively small scales (e.g., Braman et al 2002;Frank and Shrewsbury 2004).…”

Biopores from mole crickets (Scapteriscus spp.) increase soil hydraulic conductivity and infiltration rates

“…There are currently three invasive species of mole crickets in the genus Scapteriscus in the southeastern United States (Held and Potter, 2012). Southern mole cricket, Scapteriscus borellii Giglio-Tos and tawny mole cricket, Scapteriscus vicinus Scudder, are significant pests of pasture and turfgrass particularly in the southeastern United States.…”