Integrated Pest Management

Integrated Pest Management is using the best, most effective and safest ways to manage pests in your garden and lawn. The key word in IPM is management. Your goal should not be to rid your whole environment entirely of pests, but to manage them. Keep them at an acceptable or tolerable level.

IPM concentrates on preventing pests and/or their damage, before it becomes a serious problem, over a period of time. IPM focuses on the following:

• Using several management practices at a time
  
• Using pesticides ONLY if pest levels show chemicals are necessary and other methods have not worked
  
• Target only the pests that are causing the problems
  
• Selecting and applying methods that limit the risk to:
  


• Human health
  
• Beneficial living things
  
• Non-target living things
  
• Environment, which includes plants, trees, soil, grass, water and air

Remember: Make all your pest control and other plant management decisions based on IPM.

With IPM, you can keep plants and turfgrass looking good, limit your pesticide use and protect the environment, yourself, the public, wildlife and pets.

Using IPM will help to stop the over use of harmful pesticides. Pesticides are harmful to the environment, people, children, pets and wildlife. Show you care and are concerned by adopting IPM as your guide to controlling your pest problems.

Learn and use the following practices to incorporate IPM into your everyday life.

1. Identify pests correctly
2. Monitor and scout for pests
3. Follow control-action guidelines
4. Prevent pest problems
5. Use different IPM practices together

Let's discuss each step a little.

1. Identify pests correctly - Certain management practices or pesticides only work against certain insects or species. Some insects are more easily controlled when in the larvae stage. Different life cycle stages will dictate the necessary control methods.

2. Monitor and scout - Continually check for pests and damage. Regularly check on the

• Species and density of pest
  
• Growth and health of the plant
  
• Weather
  
• Environment (soil) around the plants
  
• Density of beneficial organisms
  Keep a record of your findings. Good records will help you prevent future problems.
  

3. Follow control-action guidelines - How many pests and how much damage is OK?

• Aesthetic injury levels - the amount of damage you'll tolerate
  
• Treatment thresholds - the number of pests that prompts you to treat
  
• Timing - best time to treat. The stage of life the insect is in will determine the best treatment
  
• Monitoring in relation to control-action guidelines - Accurate monitoring of pests, pest damage or the environment

4. Prevent pest problems - Use pest-resistant plants, use plants that attract beneficial insects and modify the landscape so it doesn't attract pests

5. Use different IPM practices together - Biological, cultural, physical or mechanical and chemical controls are IPM practices.

• Biological control - is the use of living things to reduce or prevent pests from damaging plants. Parasites, predators and pathogens are living organisms that kill pests. Learn to identify the good insects and protect them! Spot treat and avoid broad spectrum pesticides
  
  Important:Realize that you must have some pests around to attract the natural enemies, they are their food source and without the pests there will be no beneficial insects.
  Biological control is not suited for every situation:
  
  
  • Requires extra knowledge
    
  • Does not kill all pests
    
  • Works best on a small number of pests
    
  • Not always predictable
    
  
  
• Cultural control - Proper plant care and their environment
  
  • Right plant, right place - insure that the plant in right area for its needs; sun, moisture, soil, etc.
    
  • Use pest free seeds, plants, plugs and sod - check before you buy them
    
  • Prepare the planting site
    
  • Observe planting dates
    
  • Keep plants healthy
    
  • Use the right amount of fertilizer and water
    
  • Use mulch
    
  • Keep landscape clean
    
  • Don't strive for a completely pest free environment - it won't happen

• Physical/Mechanical control - use of tools, machines, your hands to reduce pests
  
  • Remove plants or plant parts
    
    • Remove diseased plants or insects by hand-picking or pruning. You shoe works great for a form of pest control!
      
    • Remove and destroy badly diseased or dying plants
      
    • Remove fallen leaves from around diseased plants
  
  
  • Mow and trim properly

• Chemical control
  
  • Do not blanket treat
    
  • Use pesticides along with other IPM practices
    
  • Chose pesticides that:
    
    • are least harmful to non-target pests
      
    • nonpersistant
  
  
  • Biorational pesticides - natural or man-made; not harmful to animals or people. Such as Bacillus thuringiensis
    
  • Soaps and oils - mixed with water and sprayed
    
  • Pyrethroids - man-made materials that act like natural plant compounds
    
  • Nconicotinoids - systemic, long-lasting, low toxicity to people and animals
    
  • Broad spectrum pesticides - avoid using these. They kill all insects and are toxic to people and animals
    

Remember: With pesticides, more in NOT better.
Tip: Try using a mixture of soapy water (add 1/4 teaspoon of dish washing liquid and fill with water - 32 ounce spray bottle) in a spray bottle. This will kill soft bodied insects and larvae and a lot of other insects.
Evaluation - Decide what worked and what did not

Handstand - Laminated

Pesticides injure pests in two ways:

1. Local injury - direct contact, injures the tissue it touches
2. Systemic injury - moves to other tissues throughout the pest and damages them

Three major pesticides:

1. Insecticides - kill insects by

• blocking signals to nerves or muscles
  
• dry out insects (desiccant)
  
• change normal growth (growth regulators)
  
• stops insect reproduction (sterilant)
  
• stops insect from breathing (suffocate)


• Preventative insecticides are applied before damage takes place
  
• Curative insecticides are applied after damage appears

2. Herbicides - kill plants (weeds), type depends on mode of action

• Preemergence herbicides - applied to the soil
  
• Postemergence herbicides
  
  • Contact - kills only areas touched (including over spray)
    
  • Translocate - moves through plant (Round-Up)

3. Fungicides - destroy fungal diseases on plants

• Eradicants - stop growth
  
• Protectants - prevent infection

Reaction to the pesticide depends on the life stage of the pest and how it moves through the pest. Pesticide uptake is influenced by the form or structure, out tissue (cuticle) of the plant or pest, habits of the pest, the formulation of the pesticide and environmental concerns.

Depending on life stage of the insect will determine the type of pesticide to use and how it effects the insect. The pesticide can enter through the cuticle by contact, can be absorbed through the mouth or intestines from a systemic pesticide or inhaled through the spiracles (air holes) as a vapor from fumigants.

Reasons why a pesticide may not work:

• May be the wrong pesticide - life stage, type of insect, pathogen, weed
  
• Poor condition of pesticide - old, rancid, temperature and moisture can have an affect, 2 yrs. is average shelf life, did not follow label directions
  
• Applied at the wrong time or wrong amount - life stage, weather, reach the pest, mixed correctly
  
• Pest is resistant - use a different pesticide, resistance can be passed to the next generation, same pesticide is used regularly

Only use pesticides when absolutely necessary to avoid pests becoming resistant, harm to the environment, killings the beneficials.

Keep records and record what works, the weather conditions, when and how much was used.

Let's start with Taxonomy: Taxonomy of the Western Honey Bee - a beneficial insect

Kingdom - Animalia

Phylum - Antropoda

Class - Insecta

Order - Hymenoptera

Family - Apidae

Genus - Apis

Species - mellifera

There are many sub-categories, but these are the main ones used in basic entomology.

There are 4 types of plant damage:

1. Stippled or yellow leaves - caused by insects with piercing and sucking mouth parts, chlorophyll taken from the plant cells.
2. Defoliation - caused by insects with chewing mouth parts, holes in leaves or on the edges of leaves.
3. Dieback - caused by insects feeding on the roots or inside stems and branches.
4. Distortion - caused by insects feeding on new plant growth, the leaves do not develop properly.

All insects have 3 body parts, the head, the thorax and the abdomen and 6 legs. Spiders are not true insects. They have 2 body parts and 8 legs. By the way, spiders are beneficials as they love to eat the insect pests!

7 major insect species with piercing and sucking mouth parts:

1. Scale (soft and armored)
2. Mealybugs
3. Aphids
4. White fly
5. Lace bugs
6. Mites (spider)
7. Thrips

Most of these insects excrete honeydew, a sugary waste product. The black fungus you see on your plants is Sooty Mold which grows on the honeydew. The sooty mold does no damage other than slowing down the growth of the plant. Once the insects are gone, the sooty will go away or it can be washed off.

Ants love the honeydew and will protect the insect pests from predators to save their supply of the sweet stuff.

Insects with chewing mouth parts:

1. Caterpillars
2. Beetles
3. Beetle larvae (grubs)
4. Sawfly larvae
5. Grasshoppers, etc.

Larvae are the most damaging and most look like worms.

These can be divided further:

1.Defoliators - eat the leaves - caterpillars, adult beetles, fall webworms (build webbing around leaves), leaf rollers, bagworms, grasshoppers and katydids
2. Borers - tunnel (bore) holes in the trunk, stems, branches, bark or roots - flatheaded borer, clearwing borer, bark beetles. Usually attack an already weaken tree.
3. Leafminers - mine between the upper and lower leaf layers - serpentine and blotch are the 2 types - larvae of flies, moths or beetles
4. Gall makers - growths on any part of a plant - can be caused by fungi, bacteria, nematodes, mites and insects

For more information on insects visit the UF Entomology web site.

Photo courtesy of The Practical Entomologist by Rick Imes

Predators and Parasitoids are good guys that feed off the insect pest. You want to keep these guys around.


Ladybugs or Lady beetles love aphids and their larvae, see photo, can put away about 50 aphids a day! Mature ladybugs' appetites aren't as big. The larva in the photo in enjoying its aphid meal!


Other beneficial insects include dragonflies, lace wings, praying mantids, assassin bugs, ground beetles and parasitic wasps.

Aphids are one of the bad bugs. They have the piercing and sucking mouth parts that suck the juices from plants and give them that stippled appearance. Did you know that the females really don't need a male and that they can lay eggs or reproduce by live birth? They can give birth to over 100 babies a day.


Other bad insects include mealybugs, lace bugs, thrips, grasshoppers, some beetles, scale and spider mites.

And the ugly bugs! Mole crickets tunnel in the soil in turfgrass and feed off the roots and blades, usually at night. They're a big problem here in Florida.

Supported links:
Monarch Watch is dedicated to saving the Monarchs through tagging, monitoring and other conservation means. The Monarch Waystation Program was started for others to help the Monarchs every day and throughout their migration period. My yard is waystation 293 out of over 2,100 registered waystations.
Live Monarch Foundation raises thousands of butterflies and milkweed and offers free milkweed seeds to start your own conservation efforts to save the Monarch in your own backyard.
Michoacan Reforestation and Habitat Protection Fund helps the Monarch's winter habitat through reforestation of the land that has been devastated through development and construction.
Monarch Sanctuary provides financial and scientific support to preserve the natural balance and diversity of the oyamel fir forests that are the overwintering grounds for the Monarchs.
Monarch Butterfly Works toward conservation and offers a lot of great information on gardening tips, life cycle, biology and much more.
National Wildlife Federation A familiar foundation that really works to save all forms of wildlife worldwide.
UF Wildlife Ecology Their mission is to foster education, expand knowledge, and reward scholarships, using multi-disciplinary approaches, for the purpose of understanding, managing, and conserving biological resources.
Florida Wildlife Federation Affiliated with the National Wildlife Federation, their goals are to help the wildlife of Florida.
The Humane Society of the Treasure Coast - my local Humane Society Shelter.
Orphie G's Emporium Buy butterfly plants and seeds for your butterfly garden. This is my ebay store.

Other links:
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My Blog The Vent Site I just started this one. Got a gripe? Tell me about it, that's what this blog is about!
Integrated Pest Management Information on how to control the pests in your lawn and garden, limiting the use of pesticides.
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