A survey of pesticide use by commercial turfgrass pesticide applicators in three representative areas of Ohio was conducted. Names were collected from Ohio Department of Agriculture lists, and surveys were mailed to 1,290 pesticide applicators with 20.1% returned.
Approximately 65% of the respondents stated they applied pesticides and provided data, 27% did not apply pesticides, and 8% were duplicate surveys or did not provide data. Cumulatively, respondents managed 30,762 acres of different types of turfgrass, mostly residential and commercial.
Total quantities of active ingredients (A.I.’s) applied in 2001 were 112,848 lbs of herbicides, 10,598 lbs of insecticides, 4,796 lbs of fungicides, and 263 lbs of soil fumigants and plant growth regulators.
Herbicides were the most frequently applied pesticides (88% of total pounds), followed by insecticides (8%) and fungicides (4%). The mean quantity of pesticide A.I. applied was 4.2 lbs of A.I. per acre. The herbicide, insecticide, and fungicide A.I.’s applied in the largest quantities were 2,4-D, imidacloprid, and mancozeb, respectively.
In addition to applying pesticides, 92.2% of the respondents performed one to several other turfgrass maintenance activities such as mowing, irrigation, and aeration. The majority of the respondents (65.9%) stated they always used pesticides at the labeled rate. Approximately 61% of the respondents stopped spraying when wind velocity reached around 10 mph.
The most common type of pesticide application equipment used was a spreader for dry or granular materials. Of the different types of pesticide application equipment used, truck or trailer tank sprayers and dry spreaders were calibrated with the greatest frequency.
The top-rated source of information about pesticide application was the pesticide label, with the World Wide Web/Internet, trade magazines, and commercial newsletters ranking fairly low in the ratings.