The CU-Boulder Facilities Management department is planning to spray weeds bordering streets and in certain lawn areas this weekend in order to help re-establish healthy grass in places where it has been choked off by a proliferation of weeds. Most playfields and other major lawn areas will not be sprayed.
Jeff Lipton, executive director of Facilities Management, said herbicides have not generally been widely used on the Boulder campus for several years as part of a concerted effort to use other non-chemical methods of controlling weeds through the campus Integrated Pest Management program.
"Unfortunately, weed growth accelerated and now the weeds are crowding out many area of healthy grasses," Lipton said. "For the time being, in order to re-establish healthy grass, we have to reduce the weeds so we can go back to using other non-chemical methods to control them including aeration, reseeding, mowing and fertilization."
Facilities management will begin spraying street and lawn areas over the May 15-16 weekend using a commonly used herbicide called MCPP-p4 Amine. Approximately 9.5 acres (less than 1 percent of the total campus land area consisting of more than 1,000 acres) will be sprayed.
"Our primary commitment in maintaining campus lawns will be to continue to use other, non-chemical approaches, but we can't go back to those methods until we are able to reduce the overall weed population," Lipton said.
"The university lawns are a very important part of the beauty of the campus. The campus must take steps to protect these important assets. Proliferating weeds have put these assets in jeopardy," necessitating the use of herbicides for the short term, he said.
For the long term, Lipton said the university is planning to emphasize the use of non-chemical means to maintain its lawn areas and to reduce the weed population growth.