Best Management Practices for Maryland Golf Courses

maintain a healthy turf and plants without over-fertilizing. Maintaining vegetated buffer strips along waterways, a key BMP, allows for the deposition of nutrients, pesticides, or sediment in vegetation before reaching a waterway. Pesticide BMPs provide the necessary guidance for the proper transport, storage, mixing, and application of pesticides to address target pests and minimize impacts to non-target species. Erosion and Sedimentation Erosion is the action of surface processes that remove soil, rock, or dissolved material from one location and transport it to another. Sedimentation is the deposition of eroded material. Eroded soil and sediments can introduce pollutants into surface waters such as organic matter, nutrients, chemicals (such as pesticides), and other wastes. For example, phosphorus is immobile in most soils and concentrates in the top few inches of the soil, where it is very susceptible to erosion and thus likely to be present in sediment. Design and construction BMPs and stormwater management BMPs address the potential for erosion and sedimentation and ways to mitigate that potential. Water Usage Water is a fundamental element for physiological processes in turf such as photosynthesis, transpiration, and cooling, as well as for the diffusion and transport of nutrients. Turf quality and performance depend on an adequate supply of water through either precipitation or supplemental irrigation. Too little water induces drought stress and weakens the plant, while too much causes anaerobic conditions that stunt plant growth and promote disease. Excessive water can also lead to runoff or leaching of nutrients and pesticides into groundwater and surface water. The design and maintenance of irrigation systems, as well as proper irrigation scheduling, careful selection of turfgrass cultivars, and incorporation of cultural practices that increase the water holding capacity of soil are addressed through these BMPs. Pollinators Protecting bees and other pollinators is important to the sustainability of agriculture. Minimizing the impacts of pesticides on bees and other pollinators, as well as beneficial arthropods, is addressed in this document in two ways: (1) by promoting the use of integrated pest management (IPM) methods to reduce pesticide usage and minimize the potential of exposure when pesticides are needed and (2) by providing specific guidance for pesticide applicators to follow when chemical control is needed. Superintendents can also directly support healthy pollinator populations by providing and/or enhancing habitat for pollinator species and supplying food sources, nesting sites, and nesting materials.

Using this Document

This document was developed using the latest science-based information and sources. As of the time of this printing, the information was the latest available; some sources, such as the University of Maryland’s nutrient management guidelines, are updated regularly and the reader should make an effort to identify the latest version. In addition, regulations may change and the reader should make an effort to identify any changes. The accompanying website for this project ( http://www.marylandgolfbmp.org ) is also a resource for identifying these changes.

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