School Gardens IPM 101 Home Work IPM School Pest Management Welcome! This course is designed for IPM Coordinators on school campuses in Texas and Texas Teachers. After this course, you will be able to: Explain how IPM principles apply to school gardens Differentiate between harmful and beneficial insects Implement in IPM plan in the school garden Solve pest problems in the school garden by applying IPM practices. Please refer to the Handouts button for additional resources.

School Gardens IPM 101 Home Work IPM School Pest Management IPM Essentials: What is IPM? Integrated Pest Management (IPM) is The best pest control with the least environmental impact A way to reduce pesticide exposure to children Proactive pest control Long term management Not just a quick fix

School Gardens IPM 101 Home Work IPM School Pest Management IPM Essentials: IPM Sequence What do I do first? 1.Identify the pest 2.Ask why it’s there: Is the pest looking for food? Is there water nearby? Is it living there? 3.Remove food, water and shelter, and pests will look for them somewhere else!

School Gardens IPM 101 Home Work IPM School Pest Management IPM Essentials: Why IPM? 1.It is the law 2.Schools are required to have IPM plans and follow those plans even in school gardens. 3.IPM can help provide maximum pest control with minimum chemical exposure. It’s smart gardening!

School Gardens IPM 101 Home Work IPM School Pest Management IPM Essentials: What is a Pesticide Pesticides include any substance or mixture of substances intended for Preventing Destroying Repelling Mitigating any pest, insect, rodent or weed.

School Gardens IPM 101 Home Work IPM School Pest Management IPM Essentials: IPM no-no’s Never bring chemicals, bug spray, ant killer granules, home- mixed remedies or other products to school.

School Gardens IPM 101 Home Work IPM School Pest Management IPM Essentials: Organics Can I bring organic pesticides from home? No – pesticides are pesticides. Even products that are designed to repel insects are included in this category. You should not bring any remedies or chemicals from home.

School Gardens IPM 101 Home Work IPM School Pest Management IPM Essentials: IPM Coordinator Who is your IPM Coordinator? Get to know this person well – they will help take care of pests so you can take care of teaching your students! If you see something, say something – soon. No matter how big or small the problem is, the sooner you report, the sooner it will be dealt with. Tracking and monitoring are big components of IPM.

School Gardens IPM 101 Home Work IPM School Pest Management How to Manage Pests without Pesticides Step One: Clean up! Remove dead plant material, old boards, pots and debris from the garden. These provide food and shelter for pests. Repair leaky faucets and hoses. Water attracts thirsty pests. Don’t have snacks, drinks or food in the garden. Those things encourage ants and mice.

School Gardens IPM 101 Home Work IPM School Pest Management How to Manage Pests without Pesticides Step Two: Get your hands dirty! Check daily for pests and pest damage. Identify pests. Keep beneficial insects, pick off the harmful insects and dispose of them. Pull weeds.

School Gardens IPM 101 Home Work IPM School Pest Management How to Manage Pests without Pesticides Yes, you should pick off each and every worm. Sturdy garden gloves will help with the ick factor.

School Gardens IPM 101 Home Work IPM School Pest Management How to Manage Pests without Pesticides Step Three: Build pest barriers Fences with small openings will keep rabbits and large rodents from your plants. Row covers will keep out grasshoppers, stink bugs, birds and rabbits. Row covers should be removed so bees and other beneficial insects can do their work.

School Gardens IPM 101 Home Work IPM School Pest Management What if it doesn’t work? You should have already reported a problem to your IPM Coordinator. The IPM Coordinator can help you implement some different actions that might improve your results. The IPM Coordinator can also recommend a pesticide application if the situation needs it. Chemicals are always a last resort.

School Gardens IPM 101 Home Work IPM School Pest Management What if it doesn’t work? You should have already reported a problem to your IPM Coordinator. The IPM Coordinator can help you implement some different actions that might improve your results. The IPM Coordinator can also recommend a pesticide application if the situation needs it. Chemicals are always a last resort.

School Gardens IPM 101 Home Work IPM School Pest Management The IPM Garden Path Plant Selection: Choose genetically resistant plant varieties to reduce pests and diseases. Biological Control: Use one organism to control another.Cultural Control: Make your garden favorable for plants, unfavorable for pests. Mechanical control: Use traps, fences, row covers to keep pests out.Chemical control: the last resort.

School Gardens IPM 101 Home Work IPM School Pest Management The IPM Garden Path: Plant Selection Plant Selection: Choose genetically resistant plant varieties to reduce pests and diseases. Choose plants that are: Adapted to your area Disease resistant Pest resistant Need help selecting plant varieties? Contact your local county agent Go to Explore the Aggie Horticulture Site

School Gardens IPM 101 Home Work IPM School Pest Management The IPM Garden Path: Biological Control Biological Control: Use one organism to control another. Biological control involves using one organism to help control the population of another organism. The best example for gardeners: Insects that eat other insects! Not all insects are bad. 97% of insects are beneficial.

School Gardens IPM 101 Home Work IPM School Pest Management The IPM Garden Path: Biological Control Beneficial insects bring a benefit to your garden. Some will pollinate your plants, while others will eat harmful insects. Lady beetle eating aphids.

School Gardens IPM 101 Home Work IPM School Pest Management The IPM Garden Path: Biological Control Pesticides kill beneficial insects and harmful insects equally. Minute pirate bug eating larvae.

School Gardens IPM 101 Home Work IPM School Pest Management The IPM Garden Path: Biological Control Organic products will kill or repel both beneficial and harmful insects equally. Big eyed bug eating insect egg.

School Gardens IPM 101 Home Work IPM School Pest Management Biological Control: Identifying Beneficial Insects Name: Assassin Bug Eats: Aphids, army worms, stink bugs *There are many species of assassin bugs. They vary in color and size. Most assassin bugs are beneficial insects.

School Gardens IPM 101 Home Work IPM School Pest Management Biological Control: Identifying Beneficial Insects Name: Big Eyed Bug Eats: Insect eggs, soft bodied insects

School Gardens IPM 101 Home Work IPM School Pest Management Biological Control: Identifying Beneficial Insects Name: Lacewing Larvae Eats: Aphids, soft bodied insects, mites, insect eggs, thrips, mealybugs, immature whiteflies, small caterpillars

School Gardens IPM 101 Home Work IPM School Pest Management Biological Control: Identifying Beneficial Insects Name: Minute Pirate Bug Eats: Insect eggs, soft bodied insects

School Gardens IPM 101 Home Work IPM School Pest Management Biological Control: Identifying Beneficial Insects Name: Lady Bird Beetle, larvae Eats: Aphids, other small insects

School Gardens IPM 101 Home Work IPM School Pest Management Biological Control: Identifying Beneficial Insects Name: Parasitic Wasp Eats: Caterpillars, grub worms, many other pests

School Gardens IPM 101 Home Work IPM School Pest Management Biological Control: Identifying Beneficial Insects Name: Predatory Wasp Eats: Provide many types of insects for their young. *Most are capable of stinging. Garden in the cooler parts of the day to avoid wasps. **Some wasps are pollinators.

School Gardens IPM 101 Home Work IPM School Pest Management Biological Control: Identifying Beneficial Insects Name: Preying Mantid Eats: Grasshoppers, flies, bees, and other insects

School Gardens IPM 101 Home Work IPM School Pest Management Biological Control: Identifying Beneficial Insects Name: Spiders Eats: All types of insects and other arthropods *All spiders are beneficial insects.

School Gardens IPM 101 Home Work IPM School Pest Management Biological Control: Identifying Beneficial Insects Name: Honey Bee Eats: Pollen and nectar *Bees will pollinate your flowers. They are not predators **Garden in the cooler part of the day to avoid bees.

School Gardens IPM 101 Home Work IPM School Pest Management Biological Control: Identifying Beneficial Insects Name: Ground Beetle Eats: Many insect species including caterpillars *One species of ground beetle can harm corn seedlings.

School Gardens IPM 101 Home Work IPM School Pest Management Need help identifying bugs We have your answers, visit these websites: This website will help you find insects by insect orders This website will allow you to search an image database to find the insect you are looking for

School Gardens IPM 101 Home Work IPM School Pest Management The IPM Garden Path: Cultural Control Cultural Control: Make your garden favorable for plants, unfavorable for pests. Healthy plants resist pests. Focus on growing healthy plants! What do healthy plants need? Healthy soil Adequate water Appropriate fertilizer

School Gardens IPM 101 Home Work IPM School Pest Management The IPM Garden Path: Cultural Control Healthy Soil Healthy plants With some natural pest resistance Adding compost with rich organic matter improves soil drainage, holds moisture and improves drainage. These all make for happy plants!

School Gardens IPM 101 Home Work IPM School Pest Management The IPM Garden Path: Cultural Control Water Water only as needed A 3-inch layer of mulch will control weeds, reduce soil temperature, retain moisture and add nutrients to the soil as it decomposes. Pull mulch away from plant bases for best effect.

School Gardens IPM 101 Home Work IPM School Pest Management The IPM Garden Path: Cultural Control Fertilizer Do a soil test. Find out what nutrients your soil needs. Go to soiltesting.tamu.edu for more information on how to test your soil.soiltesting.tamu.edu Be careful! If soil fertility levels are too high or too low, plants can become weak and susceptible to disease.

School Gardens IPM 101 Home Work IPM School Pest Management The IPM Garden Path: Cultural Control Help children understand what plants need to thrive: Healthy soil Adequate water Appropriate fertilizer Work with nature to achieve naturally pest resistant plants.

School Gardens IPM 101 Home Work IPM School Pest Management The IPM Garden Path: Mechanical Control Mechanical control of pests involves mechanisms that Repel pests from plants Dispose of pests Prevent pests from reaching plants

School Gardens IPM 101 Home Work IPM School Pest Management The IPM Garden Path: Mechanical Control If pests are already in your garden, displace them! Notify your IPM Coordinator Pluck pests off of the plants if they are large enough If pests are small, a high pressure sprayer should displace them far enough that they will die before they can re-infest your plants.

School Gardens IPM 101 Home Work IPM School Pest Management The IPM Garden Path: Mechanical Control If you have heavily infested plants or plant parts, destroy them. This will reduce the spread of insects and disease. Remove any infested or diseased parts that have fallen to the ground. Dispose of these plant parts far away from the garden. Pull weeds as soon as you see them and remove them from the garden.

School Gardens IPM 101 Home Work IPM School Pest Management The IPM Garden Path: Mechanical Control Row covers can effectively keep out pests like rabbits, grasshoppers and birds. Be sure to remove them when it is time for bees and other pollinators to do their duty.

School Gardens IPM 101 Home Work IPM School Pest Management The IPM Garden Path: Mechanical Control Fences with tight rails or very small openings can keep rabbits away from your plants. Copper strips laid down along bed edges can repel snails and slugs.

School Gardens IPM 101 Home Work IPM School Pest Management The IPM Garden Path: Mechanical Control If you don’t have pests and don’t want them, inspection and detection are critical to keeping pests away.

School Gardens IPM 101 Home Work IPM School Pest Management The IPM Garden path Chemical control: the last resort after all other measures have failed. Contact your IPM Coordinator to arrange for chemical control of your pest problem. Remember: Never bring pesticides (even organic products and home remedies) from home – it’s the law.

IPM for Texas Schools and Teachers Home Work IPM School Pest Management IPM School Garden Top Tips 1.Clean up your garden – don’t provide a food, water or shelter for pests. 2.Pesticides kill beneficial and harmful insects equally. 3.Never bring pesticides, organics or home remedies to solve a school garden problem. 4.Healthy soil leads to healthy plants with some natural pest resistance. 5.Remove pests and infestations to keep them from spreading to healthy plants.

IPM for Texas Schools and Teachers Home Work IPM School Pest Management IPM Goal Safe, healthy schools for Texas kids! For more information in IPM in schools, visit: teachers-volunteers/

IPM for Texas Schools and Teachers Home Work IPM School Pest Management Quiz and Certificate Please complete the quiz and print your certificate of completion. Please complete a course evaluation at this link. Your feedback will be used to improve the course for future learners!