Slide 1 Teacher Login

							 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
1. Identify insect and population/monitor.
2. Determine potential for damage/economic
   threshold.
3. Assess potential environmental
   issues/hazards.
4. Decide on integrated control measures or
   tactics/action threshold.
5. Use control measures.
6. Evaluate the results.
7. 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

1. Using disease-free planting materials

2. Proper site selection

3. 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:
1. Management of surface and subsurface water
    runoff
2. Erosion control
3. Cultural control of pests
4. Soil testing
5. Timing and placement of fertilizers
6. Controlled release fertilizers
7. Irrigation management
8. Biological control of pests
9. Pesticide selection
10. 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:
     1. Egg
     2. Larvae- looks nothing like the adult
     3. Pupae- transformation stage
     4. 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:
  1.   Cultural practices
  2.   Biological methods
  3.   Mechanical methods
  4.   Chemical methods
  5.   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
    1. Lady bugs control a range of insect pests
    2. Toad frogs eat insects
    3. 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
         1.   Type of action
         2.   Chemical composition
         3.   Method of application
         4.   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
    1. Preplant- applied before planting
    2. Preemergence- applied after planting but before
       crop emergence
    3. Postemergence- applied after crop emergence


-   Performance of herbicides depends on:
    1.   Temperature
    2.   Rainfall
    3.   Humidity
    4.   Maturity of crop and weeds
    5.   Soil characteristics
    6.   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:
    1.   Injure people
    2.   Injure animals
    3.   Pollute the environment
    4.   Contaminate water and food
 Safety guidelines to follow are:
1.    Use only approved pesticides.
2.    Read the label before application.
3.    Use the pesticide with lowest toxicity.
4.    Use the right equipment.
5.    Mix according to the directions on the pesticide
      label.
6.    Apply evenly.
7.    Avoid vapor damage.
8.    Clean up.
9.    Store properly.
10.   Know the correct emergency measures.
     Techniques for storing pesticides safely:

1.    Storage area should be located where cleanup
      materials are close at hand.
2.    Keep pesticides in original containers with labels in
      place.
3.    Never store pesticides near food, medicine, or
      cleaning supplies.
4.    Do not store flammable materials with pesticides.
5.    Organize materials to be accessible and visible.
6.    Mark each container with the date or purchase.
7.    Routinely check containers for damage or leaks
8.    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