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Achieving adoption of integrated pest management (IPM) practices by professional landscape managers is a common goal of university research and extension personnel, governmental and regulatory agencies, industry, and the public. IPM is developed and promoted through cooperation of university, state, and industry groups in research and educational programs. Publications and educational events are major means of promoting IPM to landscape professionals. While large theater-style seminars may provide the advantage of reaching as many as 500 people at one time, landscape clientele have shown favor for the smallgroup, hands-on type of seminar for application technology and IPM methodologies. The impact of research and educational programs on IPM adoption tends to be variable, depending on the pest, the potential for effective control, the control practices to be undertaken, and economic consequences. Adoption of several biological control programs has been indicated. The pesticide-use data collected from 1992 to 1994 indicate trends in reduced use of some pesticides and shifts to less toxic materials. Unfortunately, these data do not account for variability in pest activity from year to year, and not all pesticide applicators are reporting. Pressure from the public to control pests while minimizing the use of pesticides also indicates adoption of IPM. Additional evaluations are necessary to assess adoption of current and future IPM programs.
Non-turf ground-covers occupy a significant portion of the landscape, and understanding their water requirements is important when water conservationism being practiced. Six groundcover species (Baccharis pilularis `Twin Peaks', Drosanthemum hispidum, Vinca major Gazania hybrid, Potentilla tabernaemontani and Hedera helix `Needlepoint') representing a range of observed water needs were evaluated under different levels of irrigation based on percentages of real-time reference evapotranspiration.
Treatments of 100%, 75%, 50% and 25% of ETO were applied during 1989 while treatments of 50%, 40%, 30% and 20% of ETO were applied during 1990. Plant performance ratings in the first year indicated that 50% of ETO was the minimum treatment which resulted in acceptable plan aesthetics for all species except for Drosanthemum which performed equally well at each treatment. Significant differences in performance did occur among and within species at the different treatments. Results from 1990 will reveal which species might maintain aesthetic appearance at irrigation levels between 50% and 20% of ETO. These results will be presented and discussed in terms of their significance to species selection and total landscape irrigation management.
We conducted an evaluation of three commercial weather-sensing irrigation controllers to determine the climatic data they use, how easy they are to set up and operate, and how closely their irrigation regimes match landscape irrigation needs established by previous field research. The devices virtually controlled an existing reference irrigation system and used its system performance data as required in their initial setup. Reference standard treatments for cool-season turfgrass, trees/shrubs and annual flowers were calculated using onsite, real-time reference evapotranspiration (ETo) data and plant factors developed primarily from previous research. The reference irrigation system applied the correct amount of water to an actual tall fescue turfgrass planting whose water needs served as the reference standard treatment comparison for the cool-season turfgrass treatment. Virtual applied water was recorded for other plant materials and it was compared to the corresponding calculated reference standard amount. Results show each controller adjusted its irrigation schedules through the year roughly in concert with weather and ETo changes, but the magnitudes of adjustments were not consistently in proportion to changes in ETo. No product produced highly accurate irrigation schedules consistently for every landscape setting when compared to research-based reference comparison treatments. Greater complexity and technicality of required setup information did not always result in more accurate, water-conserving irrigation schedules. Use of a weather-sensing controller does not assure landscape water conservation or acceptable landscape plant performance, and it does not eliminate human interaction in landscape irrigation management.
A previous field study had shown that Baccharis pilularis, `Twin Peaks', Drosanthemum hispidum, Vinca major, Gazania hybrid, Potentilla tabernaemontanii and Hedera helix, `Needlepoint', express no loss in relative aesthetic appearance when irrigated for one season at 50% of reference evapotranspiration (ETo), but three species did not perform acceptably at 25% of ETo. In this study these six species were grown in the field for 16 months under treatments of 50%, 40%, 30% and 20% of real-time ETo to more closely determine their minimum irrigation needs.
Analysis of seasonal plant performance ratings indicates that for Vinca, Gazania and Potentilla there is no significant increase in relative performance when irrigated at more than 30% of ETo. Baccharis, Drosanthemum and Hedera exhibited no significant improvement in performance when irrigated above 20% of ETo. A general decline in aesthetic appearance and performance was observed during the study in Gazania and Potentilla at all treatments, suggesting that their long-term minimum irrigation need may be more than 50% of ETo.
Replacing cool-season turf with more drought and heat tolerant warm-season turfgrass species is a viable water conservation strategy in climates where water resources and precipitation are limited. Field studies were conducted in Riverside and Irvine, CA, to investigate three methods (scalping, eradication with a nonselective herbicide, planting into existing turf) of converting an existing tall fescue (Festuca arundinacea) sward to warm-season turf. Cultivars established vegetatively by plugging were ‘De Anza’ hybrid zoysiagrass [Zoysia matrella × (Z. japonica × Z. tenuifolia)], ‘Palmetto’ st. augustinegrass (Stenotaphrum secundatum), ‘Tifsport’ hybrid bermudagrass (Cynodon dactylon × C. transvaalensis), ‘Sea Spray’ seashore paspalum (Paspalum vaginatum), and ‘UC Verde’ buffalograss (Buchloe dactyloides). Cultivars established from seeds were ‘Princess-77’ bermudagrass (C. dactylon) and ‘Sea Spray’ seashore paspalum. Neither scalping nor planting into existing tall fescue were effective conversion strategies, as none of the warm-season turfgrasses reached 50% groundcover within 1 year of planting. All of the species except for st. augustinegrass reached a higher percentage of groundcover at the end of the study when glyphosate herbicide was applied to tall fescue before propagation compared with the other conversion strategies. Bermudagrass and seashore paspalum established from seeds and hybrid bermudagrass from plugs provided the best overall establishment with 97%, 93%, and 85% groundcover, respectively, when glyphosate was used before establishment. Quality of seeded cultivars matched or exceeded that of cultivars established vegetatively by plugging. These results suggest that eradication of tall fescue turf followed by establishment of warm-season turf from seeds is the best and easiest turf conversion strategy.
The performance of six landscape groundcover species was evaluated when irrigated at 30% of ET0 at irrigation schedules of three times per week, once per week, once every 2 weeks, and once every 4 weeks. Potentilla tabernaemontani could not be sustained under any of the treatments. For the other species (Baccharis pilularis, Drosanthemum hispidum, Vinca major, Osteospermum fruticosum, and Hedera helix) there were no season-long differences in a species' performance or density due to irrigation frequency, but there were significant differences among species across irrigation treatments. Drosanthemum and Osteospermum provided good overall appearance and density consistently through the season. Baccharis maintained acceptable performance most of the irrigation season, while Vinca and Hedera became unacceptable in appearance in mid-season. Soil moisture content differed among species, but was not consistently different between irrigation treatments.
In the United States, urban population growth, improved living standards, limited development of new water supplies, and dwindling current water supplies are causing the demand for treated municipal water to exceed the supply. Although water used to irrigate the residential urban landscape will vary according to factors such as landscape type, management practices, and region, landscape irrigation can vary from 40% to 70% of household use of water. So, the efficient use of irrigation water in urban landscapes must be the primary focus of water conservation. In addition, plants in a typical residential landscape often are given more water than is required to maintain ecosystem services such as carbon regulation, climate control, and preservation of aesthetic appearance. This implies that improvements in the efficiency of landscape irrigation will yield significant water savings. Urban areas across the United States face different water supply and demand issues and a range of factors will affect how water is used in the urban landscape. The purpose of this review is to summarize how irrigation and water application technologies; landscape design and management strategies; the relationship among people, plants, and the urban landscape; the reuse of water resources; economic and noneconomic incentives; and policy and ordinances impact the efficient use of water in the urban landscape.