these Open Championship Clubs choose to relief grind - Pitchcare

present a key challenge.
“Typically, some eggs will have
been laid during the spring of
the previous year, but will be
present alongside larger grubs
laid two years before.
Insecticide treatments won’t
control these larger grubs. In
fact, by the time the grubs have
reached this size, the damage
will have been done. This is why
understanding the grub’s
lifecycle is an advantage.”
He advises that the most
effective control is to apply an
insecticide treatment like
Bayer’s Merit Turf, when the
beetles are laying their eggs.
This tends to be in late spring
and can be anytime between
the end of April through to July.
“A turfcare professional will
need to apply an insecticide at
this time of year, every year as
not all grubs will die with just
one application,” says James.
“As a result, for example, it
could take up to four years to
control the Cockchafer on one
particular site.”
James explains that most
professional turf areas, such as
golf or racecourses, are often
relatively small in comparison to
the surrounding area of
untreated habitat. “This is
essentially a reservoir for
infestation,” says James. “There
is a constant pressure, year on
year from beetles crawling or
flying in, so it really is
recommended that turf
managers get into the habit of
using a preventative treatment
every year.”
Whilst frequency of treatment
is a key issue, James adds that
application technique is also
important. “Merit Turf needs to
be applied evenly across the
whole turf area before being
thoroughly irrigated. Wateringin
is critical for successful
control and to move the active
ingredient through the thatch
and into the rootzone of the
turf. Its systemic mode of action
means that, when the grubs eat
the roots, they subsequently
stop feeding before dying. The
young grubs are also controlled
through coming into contact
with the product in the soil.
According to James, turfcare
professionals often don’t realise
that they have a problem, or
they don’t fully understand it.
They only start to react when
they see damage to the turf
and, at that point, it’s too late.
The visual damage has, by that
stage, been exacerbated by
predators such as foxes,
badgers and large birds. They
scratch away the loose turf in an
attempt to eat the grubs.
“Turfcare professionals can
help to reduce the visible
damage at this stage by
installing physical barriers to
keep predators out but, whilst
this may maintain the visual
appearance of the turf, the
damage has been done and
repairs will still need to be
made to the turf,” concludes
James.
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WEED CONTROL
DECEMBER/JANUARY 2012 PC 143