Q. How do you define integrated pest management for growers?
A. IPM is a strategy of pest control that integrates all available tactics including cultural, physical, chemical and biological controls to reduce pest populations to an acceptable level (defined by the grower and their market) that is cost-effective and environmentally rational. It is a flexible way to manage pests while producing healthy, high-quality crops. The goal of an IPM program is to increase crop quality, while reducing short- and long-term costs to the grower.
The foundation of an IPM program is routine, regular scouting to gather information so that a grower can make an informed decision -- weighing the advantages and disadvantages of each possible treatment decision. Regular scouting also helps growers to evaluate the effectiveness of their treatments at their operation.
Q. What are some of the misconceptions that growers have about IPM?
A. One major misconception is that IPM takes too much time and that it costs more than traditional pest management. Many growers are so busy that they would rather spray preventatively every week, whether they need to or not. They don’t see the benefits of IPM in terms of early detection of problems, more control options, reduced costs and improved crop quality.
Q. What are some of the obstacles that growers have in successfully starting an IPM program?
A. One of the biggest obstacles is not making a commitment to regular scouting. For small operations, it’s hard to find the time to scout as the owners are doing everything it takes to operate a very challenging business.
For larger operations, it’s hard to retain employees who are good scouts. Routine scouting often takes a backseat to more urgent tasks. Management needs to be committed to an IPM program and committed to training and retaining good employees.
This is also very basic, but one needs to start clean, stay clean and keep clean for IPM to work. It also takes time to gather information, assimilate it and learn new ways of approaching problems. It takes time to learn about the life cycles of insects and mites, their natural enemies and how the different insecticides, miticides and fungicides work.
Q. What are some of the obstacles that growers have in maintaining a successful IPM program?
A. To maintain a successful program there needs to be commitment from the top down. Good communication is critical between everyone involved in pest management and in crop management. The owner, manager, IPM scout, grower and all the other employees need to communicate with each other. A willingness to learn from your mistakes, teach others and develop good problem-solving skills is needed. Patience is also needed, as we are trying to get to the root cause of the pest problems and not be reactive with a big gun pesticide approach.
Accessing timely information on new and developing pest problems is crucial. Fortunately, the Internet has helped tremendously in this regard and there are many excellent Web sites to find IPM and crop management information. For example, in
Q. Are more growers expressing an interest in adding some type of biological controls to their IPM programs?
A. Greenhouse tomato and vegetable growers have used biological control since the 1970s. In this system, thresholds for pest damage are higher because the primary concern is to avoid a reduction in the quality or yield of fruit. The entire plant does not have to be free of any pests or their associated damage. Greenhouse tomatoes and vegetables are also long term crops that are (hopefully) grown in separate greenhouses.
In many
Research is needed to fill the gaps in existing knowledge -- in terms of interactions between the different natural enemies and interactions between pesticides and natural enemies. Often, pesticides may need to be applied to help reduce costs, to be used for disease control or to control plant height. For example, are plant growth regulators compatible with natural enemies?
Q. What is the one common mistake that growers make in their insect/disease control programs?
A. Growers are so busy, it’s easy to be reactive, make an educated guess at identifying the problem and apply what they think may work. It’s a matter of not taking the time to correctly identify the problems (submitting samples to a diagnostic laboratory or calling in an extension specialist or consultant) and then applying the incorrect pesticide.
Having a scouting program in place enables growers to detect problems before they reach the crisis stage. This gives them more time to investigate treatment options and make better, more informed decisions.
Q. What do you think are the biggest obstacles facing growers considering a switch to organic production?
A. Growers need to have a good recordkeeping program. They need to be able to document that there hasn’t been any commingling between organic and non-organic production. I know from my work with IPM growers, that it’s difficult to convince growers to maintain good records.
Growers also need to use approved materials including growing media, fertilizers and pest- and disease-control materials. They need to check with the appropriate certifying agency to determine exactly what products are allowed. The Organic Materials Review Institute (www.omri.org) provides a listing of allowable products. However, no plant growth regulators are allowed, so growers need to be prepared to use non-chemical cultural controls for height management. Plant nutrition is also more challenging.
Organic growers have not yet developed a well-defined marketing program.
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Position: Extension educator,
Experience: Before joining
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For more: Leanne Pundt, University of Connecticut, Litchfield County, 843 University Drive, Torrington, CT 06790-2635; (860) 626-6240; fax (860) 626-6897; leanne.pundt@uconn.edu.