What would happen if herbicides,
insecticides and fungicides were not available? Would we be able to maintain
lawn and turf at an acceptable quality without these chemicals or would they
deteriorate into a mass of weeds infested with insects and riddled with
diseases? Until recently the thinking has been that it was not possible to do
so. Fortunately now greater numbers of people who care for lawns and turf both
professionally and as amateurs are becoming aware of the fact that it is
perfectly feasible to maintain healthy, attractive lawns and turf with little or
no use of pesticides.
At a recent meeting with representatives from several local
councils, it became apparent that many of them felt a need for information for
responsible individual management of specific areas to help improve skills and
broaden knowledge particularly with regard to chemical pesticides.
Information pamphlet
The Pesticides Trust has produced a pamphlet on lawn
and turf care which it hopes will help both professional pesticide users and
householders reassess how to manage lawn and turf and to make more informed
choices about which chemicals, if any they wish to use.
The pamphlet provides guidelines ranging from the choice of
turf or lawn for specific purposes, initial design, drainage, soils and grass
types to general maintenance, assessment of problems, current methods for
control and alternative strategies. There is a list of the most common chemical
pesticides with some information on their uses, toxicity and the health and
environmental problems that they may cause. There is also information on the
legal requirements for the use of these chemicals. The appendices include
details of contacts and suppliers.
Lawn and turf care
Lawn and turf are used in many different situations
ranging from the provision of pleasant surroundings, picnic sites and play areas
in public parks to the delineation of road, rail and waterways. They are also
used in sports areas such as golf courses, bowling greens, football and soccer
fields and in our gardens where so many of us enjoy relaxing. In many of these
situations we can do very well without chemical help. The more challenging areas
are the turf surfaces of some sports and recreational activities as they are
subjected to mechanical and environmental stresses that encourage invasion by
pests, diseases and weeds and the quality of the surface is often critical.
General thinking on lawn and turf care is changing. More and
more organisations and people are implementing alternatives to the chemical diet
as pest and disease resistance to chemicals is becoming prevalent and the
threats to human health and ecosystems apparent. Local authorities are the
second biggest group of pesticide users after farmers and are responsible for
using an enormous range and quantity of pesticides, many of which are applied to
turf lawns and grasses. Increasingly, local authorities and members of the
general public would like to be better informed about the nature of the
chemicals in general use, whether they are safe or not, and whether there are
viable alternatives to chemical pesticides.
Pest problems
It is generally agreed among lawn and turf experts
that correct cultural practices and manipulation of environmental factors such
as drainage, soil fertility and pH, root zone and aeration can prevent most pest
problems. When the soil, root zones and grasses are healthy they are more
resistant to pest invasion and have beneficial organisms on hand in abundance to
out-compete the aggressors. When, however, this is not the case grasses become
unhealthy and less able to resist attack. Pest problems become established and
until recently, the usual course of action has been to resort to chemicals.
Pesticides frequently also kill beneficial organisms which
serve important functions such as controlling pests, providing nutrients to the
plants and aerating the soil. This disrupts the natural ecological balance
between the beneficial and destructive organisms and encourages more pest and
disease attack. This drives the need for even more pesticides and fungicides and
so begins a cycle of dependence. These chemicals can be effective but generally
only in the short term and persistent problems usually mean the turf is
'stressed' and trying to survive in an unhealthy environment.
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IPM techniques
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Integrated pest management
Turf can be maintained with little or no use of
chemicals and there are alternative methods of control which can be used to
reduce the incidence of pest, disease and weed invasion. This involves the
complementary use of cultural, physical, biological and minimal chemical
controls in turf to maintain optimum health of the environment and to reduce or
eliminate the need for unnecessary chemicals.
Pest problems arise because the environmental conditions are
right for them. Pest management attempts to redress the balance and through
planning and managing the ecosystem as a whole the organisms can be prevented
from becoming pests. This can be achieved by using integrated pest management (IPM)
techniques which involve a series of complementary methods designed to
supplement each other (see box).
IPM is fundamental to the care and management of lawn and
turf and these techniques are explored more fully in the pamphlet. There is also
information on:
design and drainage
developing healthy soil
selecting the correct grass
establishing the grass well
developing good cultural practices
encouraging beneficial organisms
analysing and assessing problems
current methods of controls
developing alternative strategies
environmental controls and management
pest monitors and traps
When problems arise several methods of
treatment and future prevention are suggested and are presented in easy-to-read
tables to facilitate the identification, prevention and control of diseases,
pests and weeds.
With public support, a growing number of local authorities
have developed pest management policies which aim to minimise and strictly
control the use of pesticides and which pursue the use of non-chemical
alternatives where possible. We hope this pamphlet will go some way towards
encouraging others to adopt a similar approach and will inculcate a stronger
sense of care for the environment and health.
Liz Macfie works for the Pesticides Trust
[now PAN UK]. Please contact the Trust for details of the pamphlet.
[This
article first appeared in Pesticides News No. 36,
June 1997, page 18]