More than 60 turf professionals attended the Reducing Chemical Use on Golf Courses – Redefining IPM field day held at the Bethpage State Park on Tuesday August 18.
The tour began with an overview of the 11-year project still underway on the Green Course, and then the attendees headed out onto the course to view the project. Jennifer Grant, NYSIPM program, and Frank Rossi, Department of Horticulture, — assisted by Andrew Wilson, Bethpage Golf Course Superintendent, and Kathe Wegman, Bethpage IPM Coordinator — provided an overview of the cultural practices and pest management programs that began on the putting greens and now are being implemented on the entire course.
Additional funding has been provided the last several years to expand the project to all 27 state park golf courses and publication of the manual “Reducing Chemical Use on Golf Courses – Redefining IPM,” now also available in Spanish.
Below: Bethpage’s Golf Course Superintendent Andy Wilson (right) describes the 11-year collaborative project to reduce the use of chemical pesticides and fertilizers on Bethpage’s Green Course. They are pictured on a “Reduced-Risk Biologically-Based” green—one of that creates relatively little environmental impact.
