Implementing Integrated Pest Management in Commercial Lawn
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URBAN LAWN MANAGEMENT: ADDRESSING THE ENTOMOLOGICAL, AGRONOMIC, ECONOMIC, AND SOCIAL DRIVERS DISSERTATION Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University By ALFRED ALUMAI, B.S., M.S. ***** The Ohio State University 2008 Dissertation Committee: Dr. Parwinder S. Grewal, Advisor Dr. David J. Shetlar Dr. David S. Gardner Dr. Joseph Kovach Approved by _____________________________ Advisor Graduate Program in Entomology i Copyright by Alfred Alumai 2008 i ABSTRACT Turfgrass lawns are an integral part of urban areas across the United States. Lawn management is, however, often viewed as an input intensive system, with growing concerns over potential health and environmental hazards from fertilizers and pesticides. Use of these inputs may be reduced by using environmentally-friendly alternatives and following integrated pest management (IPM) approaches. Unfortunately, alternatives have not been widely adopted because of limited information regarding their effectiveness and the perception that they are expensive. This study was conducted to: 1) examine the role of endophytes, mowing height and mowing frequency on competition between turfgrasses and weeds, 2) compare aesthetic (lawn quality), biological (weed and insect), and economic (lawn management cost) attributes of commercial, consumer, IPM, organic, and untreated lawn management programs, and 3) implement IPM in professional lawn care by comparing biological, ii aesthetic, and economic parameters of standard program and IPM programs managed by a professional lawn care operator. My results show that perennial ryegrass (PR) plots had significantly higher weed cover than tall fescue (TF) plots. Turfgrass plots with high levels of endophytes had significantly lower weed cover than plots with low levels of endophytes. However, plots high levels of endophytes had significantly higher dandelion cover than those with low levels of endophytes. Mowing height had a significant impact on weed cover. In general, plots mowed at 5 cm had significantly higher weed cover than plots mowed at 8.9 cm. I also found that weed cover was lowest in the commercial program followed by IPM, organic, and consumer programs. The commercial program had lower white grub density than all other programs, while the organic program had lower white grub density than the untreated program. The commercial program had the highest lawn quality while the untreated program had the lowest. The IPM and organic programs did not differ significantly in lawn quality, but both rated significantly higher than the consumer program. Annual costs were highest in the commercial ($382) followed by organic iii ($305), IPM ($252), and consumer program ($127), respectively. My results also show that the IPM program had significantly more lawns with weeds than the standard program in 2005 and 2006. However, 21% and 0% of IPM lawns required herbicide applications in 2005 and 2006, respectively. The IPM program also had significantly more lawns with insect damage than the standard program in June 2005 and August 2005, but not September 2005 and throughout 2006. Only 28% and 0% of IPM lawns required insecticide applications in 2005 and 2006, respectively. All standard program lawns received herbicide and insecticide application in both years. Lawn quality was significantly higher for standard program than for IPM program lawns in 2005, and June 2006 and September 2006, but not August 2006. Annual cost was lower for the IPM program ($282) than the standard program ($458). Thirty one percent of the IPM program customers cited satisfaction for continuing with the program in 2006. Among those who did not continue with the program in 2006, 33% cited weed or insect problems, while 33% expected better results. These results provide useful information for the development of lawn management programs in urban landscapes. iv This dissertation is dedicated to family: Aurelia, Emilio, Elizabeth, Denis, Harriet, Ivan, Alex, Anne, Saviour, Carol, and Felix, for all their support and advice while in pursuit of this degree. Thank you all. v ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to thank all the people who were instrumental in helping me achieve the objectives of this dissertation. First and foremost, I wish to thank my adviser, Dr. Parwinder S. Grewal for his encouragement and intellectual support, which made this dissertation possible. I am grateful to my advisory committee members; Dr. David J. Shetlar, Dr. David S. Gardner, and Dr. Joseph Kovach for invaluable suggestions, guidance, time and patience that helped improve this dissertation. I thank Mr. Mark Grunkemeyer of Buckeye Ecocare for giving me the opportunity to work with him. I also thank the staff at Buckeye Ecocare for all the help and courtesy they provided me during part of my studies. I am indebted to Dr. Seppo O. Salminen, Dr. Douglas S. Richmond, and Dr. John Cardina, for all their technical support throughout the course of my studies. vi I wish to thank all the members in Dr. Grewal’s laboratory who supported me in one way or another during the course of my studies, especially Kevin T. Power, Dr. Ganpati Jagdale, Dr. Zhiqiang Cheng, Dr. Jay Saimandir, Dr. Xiaodong Bai, Dr. Ruisheng An, Lisa Miller, Elizabeth Erin Morris, Hanbae Yang, Sunjeong Park, Priyanka Yadav, Harit Kaur Bal, and Patchareewan Maneesakorn. I also wish to express my gratitude to all faculty and staff of the Department of Entomology at the Ohio State University for all the assistance they offered me during my time at the Ohio State University. vii VITA August 8, 1973 ...................................Born – Moyo, Uganda. 2000....................................................B.S. Agriculture, Makerere University, Uganda. Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda 2004....................................................M.S. The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio, USA 2005-present .......................................Graduate Research and Teaching Associate, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio, USA PUBLICATIONS Research Publications Alumai, A., Salminen, S.O., Richmond, D.S., Cardina, J. and Grewal, P.S. 2008. Comparative evaluation of aesthetic, biological, and economic effectiveness of different lawn management programs. Urban Ecosystems. Alumai, A., Grewal, P.S., Hoy, C.W. and Willoughby, D.A. 2006. Factors affecting the natural occurrence of entomopathogenic nematodes in turfgrass. Biological Control 36, 368-374. Kaya, H.K, M.M. Aguillera, M.M, Alumai, A. et. al. 2006. Status of entomopathogenic nematodes and their symbiotic bacteria from selected countries or regions of the world. Biological Control 38, 134–155. viii Alumai, A. and Grewal, P.S., 2004. Tank-mix compatibility of the entomopathogenic nematodes, Heterorhabditis bacteriophora and Steinernema carpocapsae, with selected chemical pesticides used in turfgrass. Biocontrol Science and Technology 14, 725-730. FIELDS OF STUDY Major Field: Entomology ix TABLE OF CONTENTS Page Abstract ............................................................................................................................... ii Dedication ............................................................................................................................v Acknowledgments.............................................................................................................. vi Vita ................................................................................................................................... viii List of Tables ................................................................................................................... xiv List of Figures ................................................................................................................ xviii Chapters: 1. Introduction ..............................................................................................................1 1.1 Turfgrass and its importance ..............................................................................1 1.2 Management of turfgrass lawns .........................................................................5 1.3 Study significance and objectives ......................................................................9 1.4 References ........................................................................................................13 x 2. Competition between Turfgrasses and Weeds: The Role of Endophytes, Mowing Height and Mowing Frequency .............................................................................17 Abstract ..................................................................................................................17 2.1 Introduction ......................................................................................................19 2.2 Materials and methods .....................................................................................23 2.2.1 Pre-establishment seed treatment ......................................................23 2.2.2 Site description and field layout .......................................................24 2.2.3 Data collection and analysis ..............................................................26 2.3 Results ..............................................................................................................27 2.4 Discussion ........................................................................................................32 2.5 Acknowledgements ..........................................................................................36