Golf courses are often intensively managed to maintain the highest aesthetic and playability standards. This involves the application of pesticides as preventative pest control that often results in excessive pesticide inputs. This activity has many known and unknown risks to the environment and to the people and communities on and near golf courses. This study evaluated ‘beetle banks’ combined with ‘flowering insectary strips’ (here after conservation strips) for their ability to attract and conserve arthropod predators and the impact of increased predators on pest populations. Differences in turf quality were also evaluated between control (no conservation strips) and treatment (conservation strips) areas. The conservation strips are designed to be ornamental and fit in with the aesthetic standards of golf courses. They contain switchgrass, coreopsis ‘moonbeam’, and sweet alyssum. Beetle banks and flowering insectary strips have shown potential as a pest management tool in agricultural and ornamental systems. However, they have not been combined in any system and have not been applied to turf grass systems. The use of conservation strips as an alternative pest management tactic on golf courses will be discussed.
Keywords: conservation biological control, turf pests
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