IPM Sneak Preview and Survey

The annual Iowa Turfgrass Conference and Trade Show is next week. On Wednesday of conference week Brett Hetland, CGCS Brooks National Golf Club, and I will be presenting about integrated pest management (IPM).

IPM is a management strategy that is gaining in popularity and is becoming more widely accepted and practiced at many facilities. As part of our presentation, I am interested in hearing our reader’s thoughts on IPM. I have set up a 1-question survey to accomplish this and the question is located below. The survey is completely anonymous and you can participate by responding to the poll located in the upper right hand corner of the blog. Please let us know your thoughts.

IPM Survey
Do you practice IPM and if not, what is the main reason why?

1. I'm currently using IPM.
2. I'm unsure about what IPM is.
3. I'm unsure how to get started with an IPM program.
4. An IPM program doesn't fit into our management strategy.
5. I think our budget would not support an IPM program.
6. Our current staffing levels don't support an IPM program.

Select your answer by using the poll in the upper right hand corner of the blog.

So why did we choose to discuss this topic? Well, the “Green” movement has been hard to escape. It seems that you notice it everywhere you turn and it doesn’t seem to be going anywhere. As an example consider the use of the word “Green”. Each year Lake Superior State University publishes a list of the most used and abused words and phrases that they feel should be banished from the English language. In 2009 “Green” and “Going-green” received the most nominations.

In case you’re interested the 2010 list includes: shovel-ready, transparency, czar, tweet, app, “friend” as a verb, teachable moment, in these economic times, stimulus, toxic assets, too big to fail, bromance, chillaxin, and the use of Obama-as a prefix… Obamanomics, Obamanation, Obamafication, Obamacare, Obamalicious, Obamaland, and Obamanough.

In our presentation we will discuss what IPM is and how it applies to turfgrass management. We will highlight and walk you through the new IPM Planning Guide developed by the Environmental institute for Golf. This guide can be used as a resource to development and implement IPM at your facility. Brett will also provide specific examples of practices IPM practices that he uses on his golf course.

We hope to see you at conference next week!

Marcus Jones
Graduate Research Assistant