Pesticide Use On Green Roofs

A green roof or living roof is a roof of a building that is partially or completely covered with vegetation and a growing medium planted over a waterproofing membrane.

Pesticide use on green roofs.

Green roofs play a significant role in retrofitting the low impact development lid practices in urban areas. Because of the philosophy behind green roofs chances are your client will expect ipm methods with little or no use of pesticide. A study presented at the green roofs for healthy cities conference in june 2004 cited by the epa found water runoff was reduced by over 75 during rainstorms. Green roofs can also help reduce building energy usage and noise levels while increasing the durability and lifespan of the roof compared to conventional roofs.

The modular units are often plastic or metal trays filled with growing medium. Modular green roofs can be installed incrementally and are easily removed for maintenance and. Consider that one of the benefits of a green roof is its ability to filter pollutants from rainwater you don t want to be adding more chemicals stresses curtis. Pesticides can be used in limited applications when other methods haven t addressed the issue.

Green roof installers and maintainers must be able to recognize the early signs of infestation and know how to control their populations first through non chemical methods and finally with a targeted plant based non toxic pesticide if necessary. When faced with a green roof a pest management professional pmp might find the pest problem out of the contract scope license category or pesticide label restrictions. Water is stored by the roof s substrate and. The building may have a contract with the green roof plant installers that also include ongoing maintenance and pest control on the roof.

Some green roofs are installed in one large integrated section while modular green roofs use small portable planting beds placed together to create a larger green roof. Among the products to use with caution are zinc potassium salts of fatty acids and oxidizing bleaching agents that do not contain chlorine. Green roofs are being increasingly used in urban areas where space constraints limit the use of other stormwater management practices. Who s going to be in charge of what.

Green roofs can reduce stormwater runoff via water wise gardening techniques. 1 2 in addition green roofs can reduce building energy use by 0 7 compared to conventional roofs reducing peak electricity demand and leading to an annual savings of 0 23 per square foot of the roof. Green roof temperatures can be 30 40 f lower than those of conventional roofs and can reduce city wide ambient temperatures by up to 5 f.