Integrated Pest Management

PEST MANAGEMENT Cultural (Prevention)  Modification of normal plant care  Proper plant selection  Resistant species  Proper watering, fertilizing, etc.

PEST MANAGEMENT Mechanical  Labor, materials (not pesticide), machinery  Picking bagworms (labor)  Removing debris (labor)  Mulching (material)  Mowing (machine)

PEST MANAGEMENT Physical control  Environmental manipulations  Light, temperature, humidity, and moisture  Use of straw to reduce frost damage  Pruning to increase air movement and light penetration

PEST MANAGEMENT

 Does nothing.

PEST MANAGEMENT Biological (Beneficial organisms)  Plant diversity increases beneficial presence  Overuse of chemicals reduce beneficial presence  Release

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PEST MANAGEMENT Chemical (The Almighty)  Fast and temporary  Overuse can build resistance and disrupt ecological balance

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Integrated Pest Management  IPM – ecological approach to preventing unacceptable pest presence or damage  < 0.1 % of all insects are harmful to plants  Moderate levels of a pest can be harmless, even beneficial when providing food for predators

COMPONENTS OF AN IPM Prevention  Plants weakened by improper selection, planting, and management

COMPONENTS OF AN IPM Identification  Which pest is causing the damage?  Are symptoms abiotic?  The wrong ID could result in the wrong treatment

COMPONENTS OF AN IPM Monitoring/Scouting  Different monitoring programs for each pests  Scouting routines weekly  Know common problems in area and time of occurrence  -When and What to look for

COMPONENTS OF AN IPM Monitoring/Scouting  Scouting for pest and/or symptoms  Know beneficials and damaging insects

COMPONENTS OF AN IPM Thresholds  Every plant tolerates certain amount of pests and damage  When should action be taken?

COMPONENTS OF AN IPM Agricultural thresholds  Yield determine threshold  2 hornworms per tomato significantly reduces number of tomatoes produced  Most research has been applied in this area 

COMPONENTS OF AN IPM Ornamental thresholds  When does damage look bad?  Client’s expectations  Little research done in this area

COMPONENTS OF AN IPM Thresholds change based on susceptibility  Age of plant

COMPONENTS OF AN IPM Thresholds change based on susceptibility  Stress  Environmental  If action taken is late (threshold too high), control will take longer

MONITORING TECHNIQUES Sampling: Flotation  Flood area to float Chinch bugs to the surface

MONITORING TECHNIQUES Sampling: Irritants  Caterpillars and mole crickets  Disclosing solution or flushing  1 oz dish soap / gal water

MONITORING TECHNIQUES Sampling: Soil sampling  Grubs  Cut 1 square foot 2” deep  Count the grubs  Threshold depends on species and stress

MONITORING TECHNIQUES Sticky traps  Yellow sticky cards  Whiteflies and thrips (greenhouse)  Hang near top of plant canopy  Examine weekly for presence  Sticky Tape  Scale  Wrap around branch to estimate hatching

Yellow Sticky Cards

Blue Sticky Cards

Yellow Sticky Tape

MONITORING TECHNIQUES Tree Banding   Adults lay eggs under band   Non-toxic sticky substance traps adults and hatching eggs   Cankerworm control and monitoring  hp hp hp 

MONITORING TECHNIQUES Branch beating  Shake or beat branch into net or over sheet to dislodge insects

Branch Beating

MONITORING TECHNIQUES Pheromone traps  Gypsy moth, Mediterranean Fruit Fly…  Chemical communication between insects  Mating, danger, food…  Human pheromones?

MONITORING TECHNIQUES Pheromone traps  Pheromone traps used to lure adults  Determine presence, mating or egg laying  Estimate hatching  Not effective to determine population or control

Pheromone Trap

MONITORING TECHNIQUES Frass collection  Gypsy moth  Inspecting fecal pellets at base of tree  Size and amount  Collect with cups or sticky cards

MONITORING TECHNIQUES Pitfall Traps  Funnel in ground to catch crawling insects

MONITORING TECHNIQUES Degree days  Predict growth stage or presence  Growth rate of insects is closely related to temperature  Higher the temp, the faster the rate  Indicates when insect is most susceptible to control

MONITORING TECHNIQUES  Degree days: amount of accumulated heat  1 degree day (DD) = 1 degree over threshold temperature  Lower threshold is the temp when an insect grows  Every degree (daily average) over the lower threshold = 1 degree day  Subtract the average daily temperature from the lower threshold to get the number of degree days

MONITORING TECHNIQUES Every pest has a specific:  Lower threshold temperature under which no development will occur  Number of degree days needed to complete life cycle

MONITORING TECHNIQUES Elm leaf beetle  52 F is lower threshold  Starting March 1, count DD  700 DD is the susceptible stage of control

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Degree Days

Table 1. Some common insects for which Degree Days may be used in management. Insect Threshold Temperature BioFix DD Target Action Event Alfalfa weevil 48Several See ENT-17 Black cutworm 50 Trap Catch 300 Begin Field Scouting Codling moth 50 Trap Catch Several See Entfact-203 Entfact-203 European corn borer 50 Jan 1 Several See Entfact-106 Entfact-106 San Jose scale 51 Trap Catch Several See Entfact-204 Entfact-204 Western corn rootworm 52 Jan Egg hatch