Fusariummy

A few years ago the turf industry in BC was facing a pesticide ban and our association set out to fight the ban successfully. At the time I was worried that we needed to also spend some resources in coming up with alternative pest control measures just in case the ban was enacted. I also wrote to the Western Canada Turfgrass Association with my concerns. Ever since then, alternative pest control strategies have been the focus of this blog. Last fall I was contacted to by the WCTA to see what I thought would be some things to try. They were already interested in phosphite and Civitas but I also suggested lightweight rolling as I had seen some interesting things on my study green with regards to fusarium. Just last month I was delighted to read that they had gone ahead with research funding at Oregon State University and had some preliminary results to share ! I was also honored to be mentioned in one of the articles. I won't repeat everything already in the above article so read ...

About 1.5 years ago the golf course industry in British Columbia was facing a real threat of an outright cosmetic pesticide ban. At this time I wrote a post about how I thought we should focus our efforts not just on fighting the ban but also on alternative pest control strategies just in case the ban became a reality. Ever since writing that post my blog has taken on a different purpose. It once started as a way to communicate with my members but changed into a tool for me to share my experiences as I try to reduce my reliance on pesticides on the golf course. I would by lying if I said the past 2 years had been easy. It has been a journey filled with highs and lows. Highs such as seeing the possible effects that rolling has on fusarium patch and going 360 days without a synthetic pesticide application on my 8th green have overshadowed the lows of losing grass and being ridiculed by my peers for being different and maybe a bit crazy. I have experienced great success and also great ...

In British Columbia we are facing a cosmetic pesticide ban.  The NDP has introduced Bill M 203 before the legislature.  If this bill passes, we will no longer be able to use pesticides on putting greens after five years.  This would impact the golf industry in our province immensely.  Many courses would not be able to compete and many of us as turf managers will lose our jobs. Currently our associations are working on our behalf to fight the bill.  A good article about the fight and what we can do can be found here .  Fighting the bill is only one thing that we as turf managers can do. What will happen if the bill passes?  Will you be able to produce adequate conditions our your course?  Will your course be able to compete?  What will you do if pesticides were taken as one of your options for turfgrass pest control?  We cannot just sit idly and hope that the bill is defeated, doing would be irresponsible on our part.  We are ...