Integrated pest management pt.2

Abiotic plant problems

Non-living stresses such as heat, drought, metals, cold, salt, and flooding.

Biotic plant problems

Living stresses such as pathogens and insects

What are horticultural pests?

Any organisms that conflicts with profit, health, or convenience. Many species, strain or biotype of plants, animal, or pathogen that are injurious to plants or plant products.

Variety of plant pest types

• Weeds

• Invertebrates such as insects, mites, snails, and slugs

• Pathogens- Bacteria, fungi, viruses, nematodes

• Vertebrates

Weeds

Some crops can’t compete with weeds and will be smaller

Invertebrates

Chews holes in leaves

Pathogens

Impairs productivity and can destroy crops, cause diseases, as well as cause plants to lose necessary items

Vertebrates

Feeding, burrowing, nesting

Why is identifying plant pest hosts important?

• Certain pests only feed on specific plant species

• Certain diseases only occur on specific plant species

• Need to make sure pesticide is labeled for the hosts or crops

• Help develop pest management programs

• Help narrow down pest search

Symptom

Plant’s response to being attacked. The change in the plant’s growth or appearance in response to the pests.

ex; Wilting, chlorosis(yellowing), Spots, galls, odd color patterns, and necrosis or dying tissue

Sign

Presence of the actual pest organisms or direct evidence of pest activity

ex;holes in leaves, clues

Why is plant scouting important in pest management

• Scouting is the process of routinely checking crops for pests and disease to make management decisions.

• Important to determine how to manage the pest and what tactic to use

• Ask if problem is getting worse or better

• Ask if problem is spreading

What is an alternate host?

An entirely different plant from the primary host but pests can utilize to complete its life cycle

What is a vector and how does it work?

• Organisms that can introduce pathogens from plant to plant causing an infection.

• Its a carrier of diseases

Integrated

Interactions between crops, pests, crop management, environment, and pest management tactic (chemical,biological, or cultural)

Pest

Organisms that exist at a level that causes plant injury, economic loss, and safety and health concerns for people, livestock, or wildlife

Management

• Use of all available tactics to minimize negative impacts of pests on crops

• Should be economically feasible and should minimize negative environmental impacts

How do pest populations develop

1. Some individuals have genetic traits allowing them

2. A proportion of the survivor’s offspring inherit the same resistant traits

3. Spraying again would mean the pest population will mostly consist of resistant individuals with very few susceptible ones

3 pest management goals

1. prevention

2. suppression

3. Eradication

Prevention

Better than having to manage/control/eradicate a pest

Suppression

Keeping pest at a tolerable level (below economic injury level)

Eradication

Expensive and often not practical; usually used on exotoc or invasive pests

Tactics of pest management available for pest control

• Biological- predator,disease

• Cultural- water, fertilizer, light

• Mechanical- cultivation, buring

• Chemical- pesticides, growing regulators

• genetics- resistance via breeding, GMOs

• Regulatory- quarantines, laws, eradication

Pros of GMOs (Ted talk)

• Prevent disease and crop loss

• helps farmers produce crops with unconventional climate conditions and make profit

• cheapest, safest, most effective

• Sometimes there’s no organic or conventional disease control

• reduce use if insecticides

• reduce malnutrition

• more percise

• Increase yield

Cons of GMOs

• add unneeded items to the market such as corn syrup

• Industrial system is unsustainable

• Glyphosate use increase

• Seeds are more expensive because companies have monopoly on them

• farmers can’t practice seed saving

• size value over taste

• 4 companies control over 60 percent of seed market controlling is grown

• there’s other agricultural practices that are more sustainble

Examples of GMOs

• Corn

• Bananas

• Eggplants

• Golden rice, supply vitamin A that may prevent blindness