Weeds are the most conspicuous biological disfiguration of the urban landscape, costing the community in health, safety, and removal costs. Weeds damage public easements, lawns, and recreational areas by interfering with regular inspection, by competing with knitted rooting perennial grasses, and by making mowing difficult and more expensive.

To control turfgrass weeds, $90 million are spent on herbicides each year in Florida (Hodges et al., 1994). Much of the remaining $7.1 billion annual turfgrass expenditures are for regular mowing, irrigation, and fertilization, which selectively suppress weeds by favoring turfgrasses. Weeds are the most difficult turfgrass cultural problem for Florida's single family households and the second most reported management problem on golf courses. Florida golf courses reported in 1995 an average $16,832 herbicide expenditure per course (Anonymous, 1996), compared with $6,554 per course in the other 49 states. Left uncontrolled, weeds are blamed for human allergies, traffic accidents, loss of use of property, and reduction of property values.

References

Anonymous. 1996. 1996 golf course superintendents report. Golf Course Superintendents Association of America, Lawrence, KS.

Hodges, A. W., J. J. Haydu, P. J. van Blokland, and A. P. Bell. 1994. Contribution of the turfgrass industry to Floridas economy, 1991-92: A value-added approach. Economics Report ER 94-1. Food and Resource Economics Department, University of Florida. Gainesville, Florida.

27 October 1998