The countdown is on in Connecticut. In about a year-and-a-half, many golf course superintendents there will be short one arrow in their quiver.
Beginning Oct. 1, 2027, use of the neonicontinoid class of insecticides will be prohibited on golf courses, most lawns and other turfgrass environments throughout the state as a result of legislation signed last year by Gov. Ned Lamont. Turfgrass covers a total of about 350,000 acres in Connecticut, which is about 10 percent of the state's 3.5 million acres (or 5,543 square miles).
The legislation includes exemptions for row crops, agricultural seed production, ornamental shrubs, trees and some non-plant uses, meaning superintendents will not be able to use the insecticides on turf, but can use them on shrubs, flowers and trees.
The law leaves room for special use exemptions. The commissioner of the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Conservation can grant such an exemption after determining no other effective option is available.
Penalties for violating the new law will be $2,500 per violation.
Proponents of the legislation say neonicotinoids are harmful to non-target species, especially many pollinating insects.
Neonicotinoids have been under fire since 2013, when a landscape company sprayed a clump of flowering Linden trees at an Oregon shopping center with an insecticide to control aphids and instead eliminated an estimated 50,000 bumble bees.
The new legislation is considered a win by many proponents, however, others say it does not go far enough. An earlier version of the legislation included a complete ban, but was modified after pushback from farmers and the agriculture industry.
Neonicotinoids were first developed in the 1980s and were launched into the marketplace in the 1990s. Some of the more popular active ingredients in neonicotinoids are acetamiprid, clothianidin, dinotefuran and imidacloprid.