Published on 06/16/15

UGA apps bring expert lawn-care advice to mobile devices

By Sharon Dowdy

Summertime is synonymous with cooking outdoors, taking a dip in the pool and cranking up the lawn mower to begin the arduous task of caring for your home lawn. University of Georgia Cooperative Extension has made the task a little easier through a few mobile apps for Georgia homeowners and green industry professionals alike.

“More and more people rely heavily on their smartphones and mobile devices, so experts in the UGA College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences created mobile apps based on agricultural topics,” said Patrick McCullough, a UGA Extension weed scientist and developer of several turfgrass-related mobile apps.

McCullough developed a series of turf management apps that include photos of turfgrass varieties, pests, weeds and diseases. There are three versions: Turfgrass Management – Lite; Turfgrass Management – Subscription; and Turfgrass Management Lite (Spanish). The lite and Spanish versions are free. The subscription version costs $19.99 per year and includes the lite version, plus information on pest control applications and a pesticide database.

For the more serious home gardener, the Turfgrass Management Calculator app covers all types of applications, pesticide rates, fertilizer requirements, topdressing sand requirements, and calibration of sprayers and spreaders. It also converts units from standard to metric, includes more than 16,000 pre-programmed calculations and costs just $5.99.

If your lawn is overrun with weeds, download the free Turfgrass Weeds app and learn about turfgrasses and their most common weeds through a series of flash cards.

To test your newfound turfgrass knowledge or to prepare for any turfgrass questions at trivia night or on “Jeopardy!” download Turfgrass Management Quiz, a free, trivia-style turfgrass science education app. The Turfgrass Management apps can be downloaded at www.GeorgiaTurf.com.

Download IPMLite to learn how to control insects and pests while reducing chemical application and minimizing environmental impact. IPMLite costs $9.99.

IPMLite is a homeowner version of IPMPro, an app designed for green industry professionals and developed through a collaborative effort of horticulturists, entomologists and plant pathologists at seven land-grant universities, including UGA. IPMPro costs $24.99.

IPMLite and IPMPro can be downloaded at www.IPMProApp.com.

Sharon Dowdy is a news editor with the University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences.

Authors:

Sharon Dowdy

Experts/Sources:

Patrick E McCullough

Homeowners and professionals can get help caring for lawns through a series of mobile apps developed by University of Georgia weed scientist Patrick McCullough.

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