CHEMICAL MOWING TO REDUCE LABOR AND EQUIPMENT COSTS IN RICHMOND COUNTY MAINTAINED TURF AREAS: BAHIAGRASS SEED HEAD SUPPRESSION
Extension Education
Campbell Vaughn
County Extension Coordinator
University of Georgia
Augusta
Abstract
The City of Augusta Parks and Recreation, the Richmond County Board of Education and the Augusta Regional Airport own and maintain over 2000 acres of open field space. These open areas include parks, cemeteries, ball fields, retention ponds and general non wooded open space. The majority of these areas are a base mixture of bahiagrass (Paspalum notatum) and bermudagrass (Cynodon dactylon).
Bahiagrass is a widely used industrial turfgrass that performs well in a wide variety of environments. Its resistance to drought, disease, and various insect pests has led to wide-spread usage. The drawback is bahiagrass is that it produces an abundance of seed heads from June to September. These seed heads are unsightly and require constant mowing during these months. After bahiagrass is mowed, seed heads can reappear within 4 to 5 days. In the Augusta area and in highly visible areas, bahia turf has to be mowed weekly.
With a huge cost for labor and equipment to constantly mow these open spaces, there is an opportunity to decrease labor time and equipment cost with the implementation of a growth regulator product. The application is referred to as chemical mowing. Bahiagrass and bermudagrass respond to the chemical by suppressing foliar and seed head growth. With chemical mowing, seed head production in the bahaigrass is profoundly reduced for 10-12 weeks after application. This procedure can cut mechanical mowing from 3-4 times a month to two times per three months.
A meeting was set up with the the Deputy Director of Parks (Gary Hegner), the Assistant Director of Facilities Safety with the Board of Education (Chad Jordan), a representative from Bayer Chemical and UGA Weed Specialist (Associate Professor Dr. Patrick McCullough) at the Richmond County Extension Office to discuss utilizing this method.
The Richmond County Board of Education designated acreage and hired a commercial firm to apply Derigo, a product by Bayer, during the 2019 growing season.
Poster has NOT been presented at any previous NACAA AM/PIC
This poster is being submitted for judging. It will be displayed at the AM/PIC if not selected as a State winner. The abstract will be published in the proceedings.
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Authors: C. Vaughn
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Vaughn, C. County Extension Coordinator, University of Georgia, Georgia, 30901