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TURF talk |
Bye-bye pesticides?
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Restrictions on pesticide use are sure to become more common if current trends are any indication.
Perhaps superintendents in the United States should consider how their Canadian counterparts have been coping with some of the most restrictive pesticide laws in North America.
In April 2006, the final phase of Quebec’s Pesticide Management Code went into effect, bringing superintendents face to face with the deadline for submitting the government-required Pesticide Reduction Plan for Golf Courses.
The 2003 Pesticides Management Code mandates that every owner or operator of a golf course that uses pesticides must submit a pesticide-reduction plan to the Ministry of the Environment every three years. The first plans, all prepared by agronomists who are members of the Ordre des agronomes du Quebec, were due April 3, 2006. For 2006, each course provided the total quantity of pesticides applied in each of the three years (2003, 2004 and 2005) and presented reduction objectives for the various classes of pesticides (fungicides, herbicides, insecticides, rodenticides and others such as plant growth regulators). Each plan indicated the specific actions that would be taken to achieve the reduction goals by 2009, when the second plan must be submitted. Fines for failure to submit a plan range from $500 to $300,000.
Pat Moir is the Quebec director of the Canadian Golf Superintendents Association and superintendent at Hillsdale Golf and Country Club in Mirabel, Quebec. He says,
“Superintendents (in Quebec) feel that they’re already pretty good environmental stewards. Like most superintendents, we employ IPM strategies in our day-to-day operations and use pesticides as a tool within this framework. In our reduction-plan submissions to the Quebec Ministry of Environment, we must highlight the cultural practices we perform throughout the year, as well as provide proof-of-purchase information regarding pesticides.”
As a Certified Audubon Cooperative Sanctuary, Hillsdale has introduced naturalized areas and no-spray zones around water features. More recently, an acid-injection system has been installed to improve its water quality. In addition, for the past 10 years, Moir has worked with an agronomist who performs soil tests, and the USGA Turf Advisory service visits annually.
For the past several years, the club has undertaken a tree and underbrush clearing program that promotes greater air movement and healthier turf. Mowing heights on the greens are generally kept higher than the norm to alleviate stress on the Poa annua. Moir says, “All these practices lead to pesticide reduction, but we still need to use chemicals within reason to have healthy golf courses. We have so many things in place already, we are close to the bare minimum.”
Even so, Hillsdale’s pesticide-reduction plan says that by April 2009 the course must reduce fungicides and herbicides by 25 percent and insecticides by 10 percent. These cuts (with more expected for 2009-2012) will be difficult to achieve without sacrificing the quality of the golf experience.
On the one hand, Moir says, “Golfers in Quebec are used to seeing less than pristine conditions. (See the damage caused by raccoons digging for grubs in the photo above, left.) On the other hand, golfers, says Moir, “have high expectations. ... Superintendents are caught in the middle because they need to satisfy the government and their memberships.”
Moir has been able to cope so far, but he admits, “I can’t be 100 percent sure I would be able to reduce inputs and maintain the same quality next year. I don’t know the ramifications if I don’t meet the 25 percent reduction by the time I submit the next report (in 2009). ... If I can reduce, I will. Everyone has cooperated and is very active in trying to ... achieve the goal.”
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