SportsTurf provides current, practical and technical content on issues relevant to sports turf managers, including facilities managers. Most readers are athletic field managers from the professional level through parks and recreation, universities.
Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/37461
Many states do not offer guidance on fire ant thresholds, and so it is up to the turf pro- fessionals to decide what levels they are com- fortable with. For some schools, one mound may be one too many, while for other schools, five mounds per 1,000 square feet is the right number. On an athletic field, most experts agree that four to five mounds are enough to justify a broadcast treatment of the entire field. Control strategy. On the majority of his athletic fields, Dennie uses insect growth reg- ulators (IGRs), a type of bait that disrupts the insect’s endocrine or hormone systems, and can be sprinkled on mounds or broadcast with a spreader. These and other baits are in- expensive but they are also slow acting. It could take weeks for the bait to be passed to the queen and destroy the mound. Excessive moisture can also hinder bait effectiveness. On turf where fire ant activity is above the threshold or in high-risk scenarios like where children play, Dennie prefers broad- cast granular insecticides that provide a longer residual, usually at least three months. “Granulars are great because they provide a lot of protection without a lot of exposure,” says Dennie. “The product binds tightly to the soil and gets to where the ants nest.” Broadcast granulars also offer added protec- tion against other surface feeding pests like chinch bugs, spiders, earwigs, and more. In emergency situations such as when mounds are found on game day Dennie has been testing a new granular insecticide (Tal- star XTRA) that can be used to clean up ac- tive mounds and also as a preventive broadcast treatment spread over the entire field. The product uses a new active ingredi- ent, zeta-cypermethrin, which is meant to work quickly and also 3 months or more residually. “I am seeing dead ants in about five to ten minutes,” says Dennie. Communicate. Another aspect of pest control is communication, especially when moving toward a proactive rather than reac- tive fire ant strategy. “It takes a whole lot of talking,” says Dennie. “You have to get peo- ple to understand what you are trying to do.” For Dennie, it starts with educating your >> TOP ROW, left to right: Michael Downum, Lee Gipson and William Moham; bottom row, l to r, Craig Dennie, Kevin Rogers and Robert Hill. They use integrated pest control principles at their 253 campuses. own team and then teachers, administrators and the public. “We want folks to under- stand that we are no longer going to spray just because someone sees a bug,” he says. “We want everyone to work with us, whether it means cleaning up in a kitchen or understanding how thresholds work.” Of course, it takes time. “It won’t happen overnight,” he says. “But eventually it be- comes a way of life.” For more information on fire ant moni- toring and thresholds as well as a fire ant control cost calculator see www.fireants101.com. ■ www.stma.org SportsTurf 21