PEST MANAGEMENT

Mapping pests for targeted pest management

By David McCall , Ph . D .

Let ’ s face it : stress levels are high for everyone these days , and the thought of embracing a new technology with a steep learning curve isn ’ t at the top of many people ’ s to-do list . Budgets have become incredibly tight with limited resources or labor , and things are only going to get worse as more and more fields open up back up . Our personal stress levels are high , but so is the stress level of many of the playing surfaces with increased play ( either currently or imminent , depending on your locale ). Most sports field managers want to manage pests at their facility as efficiently as they can and then move on to the next task to hurdle . The last thing that most turfgrass professionals want or need in their lives is someone telling them that they need to change from something that works well into some new , unknown technology with more questions than answers . But guess what ? I ’ m going to do it anyway ; or at least introduce some of the concepts that will hopefully start a slow , steady shift toward getting the right product or practice to the right place , at the right time . This approach is the crux of precision turfgrass management .

We have all heard the saying , “ You ’ re only as strong as your weakest link .” That saying is true , and that is the way that we almost always manage our fields . If an area along the third base line looks dry , we run an irrigation cycle for the entire field . If the soccer goalmouth is showing signs of compaction , we deep tine the field as soon as we can catch a break in the action . If part of the playing surface shaded by the east stands is attacked by the gray leaf spot pathogen , we treat the field with a fungicide . All because of that weakest link . In reality , there are ways to address that weak link without replacing the entire chain . It just takes some thought and monitoring .

Turfgrass surfaces are not uniform . No matter how much effort we put into it , how much initial planning and preparation at establishment , or how evenly distributed the sand cap is across a well-designed internal drainage system , we ’ re still not going to have a perfectly uniform playing surface . Period . After all , we are dealing with massive number of biological

18 SportsField Management | March 2021 sportsfieldmanagementonline . com