Soil Fumigation Costs

[Steve Okula]

I am researching an argument about soil fumigation. It's been a few years since I've done any. I would be interested to hear from architects and superintendents what the going rate is today for treatment with methyl bromide, Basamid, or any other method people have tried.

[Jeff_Brauer]

Since the EPA banned Methyl Bromide for golf courses the other day, would I have to include your lawyer fees and crimiinal fines in my estimate?

[Ian Larson]

I spent $2800 on fumigating 1 acres worth of land with granular Basamid, but what would I know I'm not a superintendent.

[Steve Okula]

Since the EPA banned Methyl Bromide for golf courses the other day, would I have to include your lawyer fees and crimiinal fines in my estimate?

The GCSAA is lobbying for a critical use exemption to allow continued use of MeBr on golf courses. One of the assumptions of their argument is that there is no financiallly feasible alternative. I am curious to know how true that is.

How much did it cost the last time you legally used it?

[Steve Okula]

I spent $2800 on fumigating 1 acres worth of land with granular Basamid, but what would I know I'm not a superintendent.

Thank you, Ian. That's helpful.

[Eric Johnson]

I spent $2800 on fumigating 1 acres worth of land with granular Basamid, but what would I know I'm not a superintendent.

How effective is Basamid compared to other fumigants?

[Ian Larson]

It was completely effective for my application. I was constructing 4 new USGA greens on an acre and needed to kill off all of the common Bermuda. After scraping as much off as I could with a dozer I chose to use the Basamid to take care of the rest in the soil. I think for an acre I used 7 bags of it at like $400 a bag. Spread it with a walk spreader. Lightly tilled it in with one of those super heavy iron mats and then watered it in. The key to making it work this way is making sure you continue constant cycles of water that only put enough down to create a water seal on the surface. Too much and you have run off, too little and there is no seal to contain the gasses. If you are in an area that always gets rain you have to be very careful for obvious reasons, maybe look into tarping. With the effectiveness it had on hardy common Bermuda I see it as having even greater success with any cool season grasses.

[Don_Mahaffey]

I've had success with basamid on a greens regrass. Removed the existing sod, used a rotodarin to losen up the mix, applied basamid with drop, watered in, and tarped. Worked great. Might have been overly cautious with the tarping, but wanted to do all I could to make sure it worked. 

[Steve Okula]

I've also used Basamid on two occasions, to clean bermudagrass our of bentgrass nurseries in Mediterranean climates. I covered with plastic sheets for a week, and had perfect results.

I don't recall it being expensive. What I'm trying to get a handle on is how much it costs next to MeBr fumigation.