Many lawn care professionals know about Growing Degree-Days, the method of measuring how fast the season is developing by observing plant life cycles and assigning number values. The system results in more accurate and informed pest management operations, says Dan Herms, entomologist at Ohio State University’s Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center, who recently spoke at a seminar for the Ohio Lawn Care Association.
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Web sites have come along that can save contractors time. Instead of calculating the numbers that correspond with each plant, contractors can go online where the numbers have already been calculated to fit their different locations.
An example of a Growing Degree-Days Web site can be found at http://www.oardc.ohio-state.edu/gdd. The site contains an explanation of GDD and information specific to any Ohio zip code. Look for similar sites in other states.
Other examples:
New York: http://www.entomology.cornell.edu/Extension/Woodys/GDDtracker.htm
New Hampshire http://extension.unh.edu/Agric/GDDays/GDDays.htm
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