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Pest Management. Why is pest management important in the horticulture industry?. 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?
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Pest Management Why is pest management important in the horticulture industry?
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)?
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
1. Insects • Three distinct body parts • Head, thorax, abdomen • Three pairs of legs • Either one, two or no pairs of wings
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
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
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)
Insect feeding • Variations include: 3. Siphoning (moths and butterflies) 4. Rasping (thrips)
Beneficial insects • Help plants grow by • Improving the soil • Pollinating plants • Destroying harmful insect pests • Examples • Lady beetle, praying mantis, common green lacewing
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.
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
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.
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
Preventive measures for nematodes • Using disease-free planting materials • Proper site selection • Using cultural practices to ensure good growth
Three categories of nematodes • Ecto-parasitic • attached outside of host • Endo-parasitic • Feed externally on and internally within roots • Semi-endo-parasitic • Partially embedded
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
Problems with weeds • Detract from appearance • Compete for light • Compete for water • Compete for nutrients • Compete for space
Classifications of weeds • Grasses- monocots • Broadleaves- dicots • Other- sedges, rushes, wild onions, wild garlic • Categories include • Annuals (winter and summer) • Biennials • Perennials
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
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
Favorable conditions • Susceptible host • Causal agent • Favorable environment • Methods of control • Increasing the host’s resistance • Altering the environment to hinder the pathogen • Keeping the pathogen away from susceptible hosts
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
Two major types of disease • Environmental- caused by elements in plant’s 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
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.
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
Explain best management practices while maintaining environmental integrity. • (BMP’s) Best Management Practices • Those practices that combine scientific research with practical knowledge to optimize yields and increase crop quality while maintaining environmental integrity.
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
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
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?
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.
What are alternative pest control techniques? Pests are controlled in the following ways: • Cultural practices • Biological methods • Mechanical methods • Chemical methods • Genetic methods
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?
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
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?
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
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 insect’s 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
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 plant’s vascular and root system and destroys entire plant
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
Fungicide- controls disease caused by fungi. The best fungicides are systematic. • Bactericides (germicides)- controls bacteria
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
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
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.
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.
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
Ecologically based strategy that relies on the following factors to control pests: • Weather • Pest diseases • Predators • Parasites
Phase I of IPM • involves pest ID, monitoring, and action thresholds • Action threshold- predetermined level at which pest control is needed
Phase II of IPM • Involves evaluating all possible control measures • Control options may include: • Chemical • Biological • Mechanical
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
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
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