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Funded Project |
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Funding Program:
IPM Partnership Grants |
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Project Title:
Master Gardener-Facilitated IPM Education for Homeowners |
Project Directors (PDs):
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Lead State: MD Lead Organization: University of Maryland |
| Undesignated Funding: $37,250 |
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Start Date: May-01-2008 End Date: Apr-30-2009 |
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Site/Commodity: community, residential |
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Summary:
We propose a multi-state IPM Issues Project to maximize the effectiveness of outreach to homeowners by working through Master Gardeners in Maryland, Delaware, and West Virginia. We will develop, implement, and evaluate educational materials aimed at increasing homeowners' knowledge and adoption of IPM and safe pesticide handling practices. Outreach materials will include a Web-based IPM education tool as well as educational brochures and a PowerPoint presentation. The brochures and presentation will be distributed/implemented by Master Gardeners at various venues.
Evaluation of program success will be a key element of the project. Homeowners' attitudes, knowledge, and use of IPM strategies will be assessed prior to and following outreach. Those who contact Master Gardeners either in person or by telephone will be asked to answer a brief questionnaire concerning IPM knowledge and attitudes before and after the interaction with the Master Gardener. They will also be solicited to participate in a survey to be conducted at the end of the growing season. Users of the Web-based tool will also be solicited for participation in the post-season survey. Data will be analyzed and results will be used to refine the program in future years. The materials developed and subsequently refined using the feedback from the study will be made available to the other states in the Northeast. The procedures used to implement the program can also be adapted for other states at that point. Objectives: Proposal |
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Final Report: |
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Outcomes A brochure was developed and published to supplement educational materials produced under another project, Master Gardener-facilitated IPM education for homeowners: Development of Educational Materials (revised). Because pesticides in general may be an appropriate part of an IPM approach, the brochure, Using Pesticides Safely to Manage Pests, focuses on best pesticide handling practices for homeowners. A broad range of safety procedures are addressed. This brochure presents the reasoning behind some label language and/or recommended procedures, which is a technique suggested by the PPDC-CLWG to improve label compliance by consumers. The brochure was distributed to Extension and Master Gardeners in Maryland, Delaware, and West Virginia, and has also been made available throughout the rest of the Northeast through the NEIPMC. The brochure is awaiting posting on PSEP Teacher, a Maryland-generated web-based database of educational tools for use by Extension personnel in EPA's Region III (Maryland, Delaware, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and the District of Columbia). Originally, a second brochure was planned to address IPM approaches to pest problems for which many homeowners are reported to be using imidacloprid. However, after in-depth discussions with principals in Maryland, West Virginia, and Delaware, especially Master Gardeners, the staff of the University of Maryland Home & garden Information Center, and the primary landscape IPM entomologist at University of Maryland, it was decided this brochure should not be developed. Reasons centered primarily on a lack of data to support the original premise, proposed by some Maryland Master Gardeners, that homeowners may simply be purchasing products on the basis of advertisements or store displays, without knowledge of whether they have a pest that needs to be treated. As this anecdotal information could not be supported, the decision was made to instead address this potential problem through the more general terms of the above-described brochure, Using Pesticides Safely to Manage Pests. |
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Impacts Home gardeners received training on IPM and pesticide safety. Through the surveys, home gardeners' attitudes on IPM and their adoption of IPM and best pesticide handling practices were assessed. Results will be published in a peer-reviewed journal in 2010. |
Report Appendices
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