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Funded Project |
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Funding Program:
IPM Partnership Grants |
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Project Title:
Planning a PMSP Workshop in Ornamentals |
Project Director (PD):
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Lead State: DE Lead Organization: University of Delaware |
| Undesignated Funding: $8,000 |
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Start Date: May-01-2008 End Date: Apr-30-2009 |
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Site/Commodity: ornamentals, nurseries |
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Summary:
The primary goal of the meeting is to examine the ornamental industry and choose a section to develop a pest management strategic plan.
Objectives: Proposal |
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Final Report: |
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Outcomes The meeting focused on five areas of discussion: education efforts, insect and disease biology, chemical needs and information, regulatory issues, and plant selection or soil quality. A brief synopsis of those discussions is provided below and following these synopses, the various outputs resulting from this meeting thus far will be presented. Educational efforts: The education efforts discussed fell into two clear areas -- homeowners and professionals. Attendees stated the monetary value and benefit of IPM to the environment, the industry, and homeowners need to be stressed to both professionals and homeowners in future workshops or events. Education efforts designed for homeowners should explain IPM in simple terms and emphasize the need for vigilance against pests requires periodic inspections of landscapes. Efforts should also try to reduce the zero-tolerance exhibited by many homeowners because this would facilitate the acceptance of IPM practices around their homes. Homeowners' unwillingness to pay for scouting services is an obstacle perceived by professionals. Various proposed solutions to homeowner education included: question and answer sessions held at retail centers, flyers at retail centers, retail center employee training and workshops for homeowners. Education efforts for professionals are covered better in the remaining four categories, but there were a couple additional issues discussed here. Some professionals requested education efforts towards record keeping or organizational skills and development of pest thresholds for different ornamental plants and pests. Insect & disease biology: The education and research efforts discussed in this section of the meeting extended to the other topics provided in this report too, but aspects pertaining to biology and identification are located here. Professionals need addition training to better identify insects and diseases found in this region. For example, some stated difficulty recognizing various beneficial insects from those causing problems on landscape plants. Others expressed the need for information regarding life cycles of pests so they know when it is the best time for applications. Requests were made for this information to include growing degree days and plant phenological indicators when possible. Further information is needed regarding the quality and efficacy of purchased biological control agents. Chemical needs & information: The meeting discussed a number of different topics such as: labeling, speed of product registration, timing and application, organic products and new chemistry. Many expressed concern about the widespread use of the new products on the market and how newer chemistry seems to be less compatible with IPM. Concerns revolved around preventative applications versus curative treatments where scouting can cut down on unnecessary pesticide applications. Additional research projects need to focus on optimal timing of some products for controlling difficult pests such as armored scales and mites. Many indicated additional information is needed about biological control efficacy, product compatibility with biological control, pesticide efficacy (including certified organic pesticides) and pesticide resistance management. Regulatory issues: Attendees expressed concern regarding the number of invasive insects, weeds and disease near or in the mid-Atlantic region. The meeting revealed many of the professionals were unaware of what insects and diseases were possible threats as new invasive pests to our area and wanted to know how they could receive current and up-to-date alerts about these organisms. Education efforts need to inform the industry about the work regulatory branches are already conducting to keep the number of invasive pests to a minimum. Furthermore, professionals need a better understanding of the impact a particular invasive pest may have on the industry in the mid-Atlantic region. Insect or disease biology for invasive pests needs to be improved and presented to professionals so they are aware of what to look for when making plant purchases; thus reducing the likelihood of purchasing infested plant material. The increased knowledge will also help professionals recognize invasive pests while scouting and hopefully reduce the likelihood of pest establishment. Plant selection & soil quality: Professionals would like future research efforts to evaluate plant resistance against a variety of insect and disease pests, and determine which resistant varieties would perform well in the mid-Atlantic area. They felt this additional information about resistant plant varieties will assist the retail industry as well as landscape contractors. Additional research efforts should be aimed at determining how soil characters, soil fertility, plant nutritional quality and variety interact to affect the susceptibility to pests in our area. This grant provided information to update some of the fact sheets at the University of Delaware and these will be available online upon completion of the updated ornamental-oriented webpages sometime in 2010. Additionally the meeting provided information to give to homeowners in a brochure written as part of a separate grant. The information gathered at this meeting funded by this grant provided some of the ideas presented in the University of Delaware EIPM-CS Coordination Proposal for Dr. Brian Kunkel. |
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Impacts Scouting is an important component to IPM and education efforts aimed at homeowners may begin to increase homeowner willingness to pay for scouting services provided by their landscape management professional. Reasonably priced scouting services could help professionals determine landscapes with pest problems, maintain business relationships and should reduce the amount of unnecessary pesticide applications. If homeowners are willing to tolerate minimal amounts of pest damage and accept charges of scouting services then the number of businesses following IPM in the ornamentals industry would increase. Development of a pest management strategic plan for landscape maintenance professionals would provide an invaluable tool to guide research and extension efforts in the future for the mid-Atlantic region. |
Report Appendices
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