Pest Management

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Pest Management

• Why is pest management important in the
  horticulture industry?

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Key Questions

• What are the five major categories of pests?
• Explain best management practices while
  maintaining environmental integrity.
• What is complete and incomplete metamorphosis of
  insects?
• What is the difference between selective and
  nonselective herbicides?
• What are alternative pest control techniques?
• What safety precautions are necessary when
  handling, applying, and storing chemicals?
• What is integrated pest management (IPM)?

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What are the five major categories of pests?

• Pest
• Anything that causes injury or loss to a plant
• Can damage plants by making them less
  productive, affecting reproduction, or destroying
  them
• Host
• plant that provides a pest with food
• Five major categories
• 1. Insects
• 2. Nematodes
• 3. Weeds
• 4. Diseases
• 5. Rodents and other animals

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1. Insects

• Three distinct body parts
• Head, thorax, abdomen
• Three pairs of legs
• Either one, two or no pairs of wings

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Insect-related pests

• Spiders and mites
• Four pairs of legs and two body sections
• Centipedes
• One pair of legs/body section
• Millipedes
• Two pairs of legs/body section
• Sowbugs and pillbugs
• Seven pairs of legs
• Snails, crayfish, and slugs

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Insect body

• Cylindrical and segmented
• Made up of
• External skeleton (body wall)
• Internal muscles and organs
• Respiratory system with openings in sides of body
  wall
• Nervous system consisting of brain, nerve cord,
  sensory nerves in the antennae, eyes, mouth, and
  feet

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Insect feeding

• Depends on structure of mouth
• 1. Chewing- mandibles (grubs, beetles,
  caterpillars)
• 2. Piercing and sucking- elongated beaks with an
  injecting organ (aphids, leafhoppers, mosquitoes)

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Insect feeding

• Variations include
• 3. Siphoning (moths and butterflies)
• 4. Rasping (thrips)

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Beneficial insects

• Help plants grow by
• Improving the soil
• Pollinating plants
• Destroying harmful insect pests
• Examples
• Lady beetle, praying mantis, common green lacewing

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Insect Control Program

• Identify insect and population/monitor.
• Determine potential for damage/economic
  threshold.
• Assess potential environmental issues/hazards.
• Decide on integrated control measures or
  tactics/action threshold.
• Use control measures.
• Evaluate the results.
• Assess resulting environmental issues/problems.

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2. Nematodes

• Appendageless, nonsegmented, worm-like
  invertebrates that have a body cavity and
  complete digestive tract, including mouth,
  alimentary canal, and anus
• Do not have a specialized respiratory or
  circulatory system
• Have a well-developed nervous system, an
  excretory system, and a set of longitudinal
  muscles

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• Feed by penetrating root cells with a hollow
  stylet mouth structure and injecting enzymes into
  cells
• Enzymes digest cellular contents, which are
  ingested by nematodes.
• Resulting wounds allow entry of fungi and
  bacteria.

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Symptoms of nematodes

• May mimic problems such as
• Low or unbalanced fertility
• Sun scald or frost damage
• Poor drainage
• Drought damage
• Insect or mite damage
• Wilt or root-rot fungi
• Herbicide damage

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Preventive measures for nematodes

• Using disease-free planting materials
• Proper site selection
• Using cultural practices to ensure good growth

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Three categories of nematodes

• Ecto-parasitic
• attached outside of host
• Endo-parasitic
• Feed externally on and internally within roots
• Semi-endo-parasitic
• Partially embedded

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3. Weeds

• Plants growing out of place or an unwanted plant
• Grow and persist
• May detract from the color, texture, or density
  of the desired plant

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Problems with weeds

• Detract from appearance
• Compete for light
• Compete for water
• Compete for nutrients
• Compete for space

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Classifications of weeds

• Grasses- monocots
• Broadleaves- dicots
• Other- sedges, rushes, wild onions, wild garlic
• Categories include
• Annuals (winter and summer)
• Biennials
• Perennials

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Other types of weeds

• Moss
• Tangled green mats composed of a branched,
  thread-like growth over the soil surface
• Algae
• Group of small, primitive, filamentous, green
  plants that manufacture their own food

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4. Diseases

• Abnormal conditions in plants that interfere with
  their normal appearance, growth, structure, or
  function
• Groups of diseases
• Abiotic- noninfectious disorders
• Biotic- caused by parasites or pathogens that are
  infectious and transmissible

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• Favorable conditions
• Susceptible host
• Causal agent
• Favorable environment
• Methods of control
• Increasing the hosts resistance
• Altering the environment to hinder the pathogen
• Keeping the pathogen away from susceptible hosts

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Symptoms of disease

• Rotting plant parts, particularly the fruit
• Leaves turning yellow or having an unnatural
  color
• Plants wilting
• Plants having twisted leaves or stems
• Buds, flowers, or fruit not developing or falling
  off
• Dead plants

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Two major types of disease

• Environmental- caused by elements in plants
  environment that are not right for the plant
• Nutrient deficiencies
• Damage to plant parts
• Chemical injuries
• Pollution injuries
• Weather-related injuries
• Naturally occurring genetic abnormalities

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• Parasitic- caused by microorganisms
• Fungi- small one-celled, usually filamentous,
  spore-bearing. Fungi grow on or in plants and
  cause plant mildew, plant rusts, and plant smuts.
  Spread by wind, water, insects, and in other
  ways.
• Bacteria- small, one-celled organisms with a
  primitive nucleus
• Viruses- infective living agents of
  microorganisms that do not have an organized
  nucleus. Spread by insects, equipment, and
  vegetative propagation.

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5. Rodents and Other Animals

• Animals pests that eat leaves, stems, fruit, and
  roots of plants
• Preventing and controlling animal pests involves
  destroying habitat and getting rid of the animals

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Explain best management practices while
maintaining environmental integrity.

• (BMPs) Best Management Practices
• Those practices that combine scientific research
  with practical knowledge to optimize yields and
  increase crop quality while maintaining
  environmental integrity.

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Best management practices used in horticulture
situations

• Management of surface and subsurface water runoff
• Erosion control
• Cultural control of pests
• Soil testing
• Timing and placement of fertilizers
• Controlled release fertilizers
• Irrigation management
• Biological control of pests
• Pesticide selection
• Correct pesticide use

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Describe complete and incomplete metamorphosis of
insects

• Metamorphosis- development of an insect
• Complete metamorphosis- insect who life cycle
  goes through four distinct stages
• Egg
• Larvae- looks nothing like the adult
• Pupae- transformation stage
• Adult
• Examples caterpillars to moths or butterflies,
  grubs to beetles, maggots to flies
• Instars- insect growth by shedding of external
  skeleton in 4-5 stages

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• Incomplete metamorphosis
• Life cycle changes from egg through nymph to
  adult.
• Nymph looks similar to adult, only differing in
  size and color
• Examples aphids, leafhoppers, mole crickets, and
  chinch bugs
• According to Figure 8-6, what are the
  differences in complete and incomplete
  metamorphosis?

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What is the difference between selective and
nonselective herbicides?

• Selective herbicides
• Control a limited number of plant species
• Nonselective herbicides
• Destroy all vegetation
• Name at least one trade name of each type of
  herbicide.

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What are alternative pest control techniques?

• Pests are controlled in the following ways
• Cultural practices
• Biological methods
• Mechanical methods
• Chemical methods
• Genetic methods

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Cultural Pest Control

• Uses management techniques to control pests
• Includes
• Primary
• Maintenance programs, Sanitation, Resistant
  varieties
• Secondary
• Mowing, irrigation, fertilization, pruning,
  aerification, mulching, etc.
• During evaluation ask
• 1. What is wrong?
• 2. What is the source of the problem?
• 3. What should be done about it?

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Biological Pest Control

• Uses living organisms that are predators to
  control pests
• Examples
• Lady bugs control a range of insect pests
• Toad frogs eat insects
• Bacterium Bacillus thuringinensis when released
  in fields attack and kill various species of worms

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Mechanical Pest Control

• Uses tools or equipment for control
• Plowing- destroys some pests, particularly weeds
• Mowing- cuts off weeds
• Mulching- covering the ground with a layer of
  plastic, sawdust or other material prevents weed
  growth
• How have we mechanically controlled weeds in the
  greenhouse?

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Chemical Pest Control

• Uses a pesticide, which is a chemical to control
  pests
• Chemicals are often mixed with a surfactant,
  which is a material to help disperse, spread, wet
  or emulsify a pesticide formulation

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Types of Chemical Pesticides

• Insecticide
• Controls insects
• Material that does the killing is called the
  active ingredient
• Can be in form of dusts, granules, powders, or
  solutions
• Classified by how they get into insects body
• Stomach poisons- eaten, work on chewing insects
• Contact poisons- absorbed thru skin, must contact
• Systemic poisons- inside plant, applied to soil
  or leaves and taken up into plant, insect
  poisoned when it bites into plant
• Fumigants- gas form, enters insect thru
  respiratory system, must be used in closed places

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• Nematicide- controls nematodes
• Herbacide- control weeds
• Classified by
• Type of action
• Chemical composition
• Method of application
• Species of plants affected
• Examples
• Selective- control limited of weeds
• Nonselective- kills all vegetation
• Contact- kills only portions of plant it contacts
• Systemic- absorbed into plants vascular and root
  system and destroys entire plant

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• Methods of Herbicide application
• Preplant- applied before planting
• Preemergence- applied after planting but before
  crop emergence
• Postemergence- applied after crop emergence
• Performance of herbicides depends on
• Temperature
• Rainfall
• Humidity
• Maturity of crop and weeds
• Soil characteristics
• Chemical concentration

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• Fungicide- controls disease caused by fungi. The
  best fungicides are systematic.
• Bactericides (germicides)- controls bacteria

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Genetic Pest Control

• Utilizes biotechnology by gene transfer or
  genetic manipulation to make plants resistant to
  specific pests
• Biotechnology- mgmt of biological systems for the
  benefit of humanity
• Organismic biotechnology- deals with intact or
  complete organisms
• Molecular biotechnology- involves changing the
  structure and parts of cells
• Transgenic organism- carries a foreign gene that
  was inserted by laboratory techniques in all its
  cells

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What safety precautions are necessary when
handling, applying, and storing chemicals?

• Application of pesticides can be dangerous. They
  may
• Injure people
• Injure animals
• Pollute the environment
• Contaminate water and food

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Safety guidelines to follow are

• Use only approved pesticides.
• Read the label before application.
• Use the pesticide with lowest toxicity.
• Use the right equipment.
• Mix according to the directions on the pesticide
  label.
• Apply evenly.
• Avoid vapor damage.
• Clean up.
• Store properly.
• Know the correct emergency measures.

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Techniques for storing pesticides safely

• Storage area should be located where cleanup
  materials are close at hand.
• Keep pesticides in original containers with
  labels in place.
• Never store pesticides near food, medicine, or
  cleaning supplies.
• Do not store flammable materials with pesticides.
• Organize materials to be accessible and visible.
• Mark each container with the date or purchase.
• Routinely check containers for damage or leaks
• Dispose of unwanted or outdated materials and
  containers according to label recommendations.

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What is integrated pest management (IPM)?

• IPM- Pest mgmt strategy that uses a combination
  of BMPs to reduce pest damage with the least
  disruption to the environment
• Goal
• Keep pest populations below economic or aesthetic
  injury level

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• Ecologically based strategy that relies on the
  following factors to control pests
• Weather
• Pest diseases
• Predators
• Parasites

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Phase I of IPM

• involves pest ID, monitoring, and action
  thresholds
• Action threshold- predetermined level at which
  pest control is needed

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Phase II of IPM

• Involves evaluating all possible control measures
• Control options may include
• Chemical
• Biological
• Mechanical

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The basic elements of an IPM program include

• People- system devisors and pest managers
• Knowledge and info needed to devise the system
  and make sound decisions
• Program for monitoring the ecosystem elements
• Pest densities at which control methods are put
  into action
• Techniques used to manipulate pest populations
• Agents and materials

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Scouting

• Monitoring plants regularly to determine current
  levels of pest activity
• Scouts check
• To identify the presence of a pest
• The stage of development
• Amount of damage done

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Environment and IPM

• IPM incorporates the changing or amending of any
  or all parts of the plant ecosystem to lower pest
  populations
• Ecosystem includes
• Biotic factors- living plants and animals
• Abiotic factors- soil and water

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