Illinois Pesticide Training General Standards Review

Pest

any insect, rodent, weed, disease ect. that injures the health of humans, plants, animals, or environment

Goal of Integrated Pest Management

keep pests below economic and aesthetic injury level and avoid adverse effects to humans, wildlife and environment

Economic Injury Level

breakeven point where cost of pest control equal revenue loss caused by pest

Economic/action threshold

number of pests per plant or amount of damage to plant at which control measures should begin

Aesthetic injury level

Number of pests that can cause enough damage to the appearance of a plant to warrant the cost of control

What is key to successful IPM program?

Regular monitoring of pest population and plant conditions

5 types of IPM control methods

Cultural, mechnical, biological, chemical, preventative

Cultural control

improves crop health to compete better against pests- crop rotation, mulching, spacing, plant selection

Mechanical control

physical elimination of pests- pruning, weeding, hoeing, hand-picking insects, mowing, bury and burning

Biological control

Using other organisms to reduce pests to economically acceptable levels

Chemical control

Using chemical agents to reduce pests

Considerations before applying pesticides

Other effective nonchemical controls, hand scouting to determine if pest population is large enough, timing for optimal control

Preventative control

To prevent entry and spread of pests by seeds, plants parts, and insects

Pesticide failure

Applying wrong type of pesticide or wrong application rate

Applying when pest isn’t in susceptible stage

Applying pesticide to incorrect part of the plant or animal where pest is located

Applying pesticide to a resistant pest population

Bird species not protected under the law

Starlings, feral pigeons, house sparrows

Mammals not protected under the law

Rats, mice, ground squirrels