ban on pesticides; what greens to build?

[jvisser]

Hi,

Here in The Netherlands, and I'm sure the same goes for the whole of Europe and
perhaps other parts of the world, there is an imminent ban on the use of pesticides.
There is a number of clubs that rely heavily on the use of pesticides to keep their greens in shape,
but I only see questions about how that might pan out, but no answers...

I hope that some of you might be able to shed some light on this!
One question is: how do you alter your maintenance procedures to survive this transition
and keep your greens in shape and what is that shape in terms of speed etc afterwards.

A more fundamental question is; if you know your greens won't survive, how do you
build new greens and with which type of grass do you choose for them and
how do you maintain them at which green speeds etc.

If you do know places where greens have been built under these conditions,
I would really like to know where and how these greens are doing.

Cheers,

   Jan

[Tom_Doak]

jvisser:


I thought you had not been using pesticides in The Netherlands for some time.


What materials are you using on your greens now that you'll have to go without?  What were you needing to control?


When I last visited The Netherlands, the main thing I saw missing was the lack of a good biological control for grubs in the fairways.  As a result, the fairways on some courses had been picked apart by birds.

[jvisser]

Dear Tom,

There has been a reduction in products that we can use that has been countered with new products.
However, new European laws are being introduced that will ban those new products, for which
no replacements have been developed.

I'm not an expert in the details, but I have learned that for the most common diseases,
weeds and plagues we are currently using a number of pesticides, herbicides and fungicides.
The way things stand right now, as of 2020 those will all be banned.

The Netherlands Golf Federation has hired a specialist to look into this matter in more
detail to see how we can deal with this ban. If no legal substitutes will be developed and approved,
chances are that a lot of greens need to be rebuild as we're sure going to loose a good number of them.

The birds tearing up grass to get at these larvae is still an issue, but I have not
seen any major issues on the fairways as they are often treated. Usually, they prefer
the untreated semi-rough and rough areas now. I don't know what they are using and
whether that substance will be forbidden as well.

I'll see if I can dig up some more details.

Cheers,

   Jan

[Jon Wiggett]

Jan,

you will be looking at a local soil/sand mix as high as 1/2 with the percolation rate as the main deciding factor. I have long been an advocate for the German FLL norms which are considerably superior to the USGA IMO though do require the person making the decision to make it rather than defaulting to it if you get what I mean.

Also much deeper root-zones of 600mm (24" in old money) are preferable.

Jon

[Steve Okula]

What are "German FLL norms"?

An internet search shows it to be a standard, (or rather, a set of standards, there seem to be many types depending on the situation) for "green roofs" or "pasture roofs" on buildings. How does that pertain to golf greens?

[Jon Wiggett]

If you had dug a little deeper you would have found they also do a set of standards for golf course construction which give far more flexibility and allow use of local materials but still keeping the relevant 'ducks in a line'.

Jon