Increasing IPM efficiency

Integrated Pest Management, or IPM, is a multi-method approach to keeping your pests under control.

Doug VanGundy, vice president of research and development for Central Life Sciences, says the goal of setting up an IPM program is to chart a course for growers to address issues proactively instead of reactively.

The first step to developing a preventative program instead of a reactionary program is to understand the extent of your insect problems.

For this, growers need to inspect their plant material on a regular basis. Monitoring sticky cards are a valuable tool for this task. Scouting will help determine whether your aphid or whitefly populations are growing, for example.

Another tactic that is part of an effective IPM program is to look at cultural practices and determine what you can do to try to reduce the influence of pests on your operation. One cultural tool to reduce pests is sealing your greenhouse or your nursery. Although not an option for field growers, container nurseries with hoop houses can cover them for at least part of the year.

Another cultural tactic is adjusting the timing of your pesticide applications. Van Gundy says the key here is being proactive.

“When you start to see numbers come up a little higher than you’d like, make your applications at that point so you don’t have to make multiple applications during the growing season,” he says.

Determining pesticide application timing can be tricky. VanGundy says it depends on your local conditions and suggests talking with your county extension agent, as well as monitoring the temperature and moisture in your area. If the weather is dry, pest numbers are typically smaller. Pest populations will grow with additional rainfall. As conditions get wetter, pest pressure ramps up.

Another cultural tip is to keep weeds to a minimum around the nursery. The plants you have in production may all be clean, but if there’s a weedy section of the nursery nearby, it could be a breeding ground for aphids. And those aphids would like nothing more than to be introduced to your crops.

Growers face a challenge when determining what types of chemicals work together effectively in an IPM program. First, they need to know which pest they’re fighting. Different products are needed for an aphid infestation than a whitefly infestation, for example. Next, VanGundy warns against depending on similar chemistries throughout multiple seasons.

“A key part of an IPM program is rotation,” he says. “You don’t want to use the same mode of action year in and year out because that would help insects develop tolerance or resistance to those modes of action. Rotating with different modes of action should be part of your program so that you keep all the chemicals in your toolbox available for the next infestation that comes along.”

Consider including an insect growth regulator (IGR) into your IPM program. IGRs disrupt the life cycle of the insect, especially in its immature stage.

“A combination product with an insect growth regulator such as Mavrik Aquaflow Insecticide/Miticide and Enstar AQ Insect Growth Regulator make a pretty good tandem together,” he says. “Mavrik will knock down the existing pest population but the IGR will keep the pest population from reappearing.”

Mavrik Aquaflow and Enstar AQ insect growth regulator can be rotated and work in tandem to deliver more flexibility and greater control to your IPM program.

For more: www.centralgrower.com

Mavrik Aquaflow and Enstar are registered trademarks of Wellmark International.