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pestmanagement Personal approach helps


Regular visits are a big part of the service provided by two IPM consultants.


By Judie Steeves


very year, there’s something new and different when it comes to disease and insect pests of agricultural crops, say Carolyn Teasdale and Kristine Johnson of E.S. Cropconsult, which provides Integrated Pest Management services to farmers throughout the Lower Mainland. That makes life interesting, but it also can create new problems for growers every year.


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A big part of the service is the personal visits to each farm on a regular basis to monitor both pests and beneficial insects.


Weekly monitoring is done from April through August, using tools such as pheromone traps, sticky traps and Spotted Wing Drosophila traps to check for both major and minor insect pests and diseases and for beneficial insects which predate on the bad bugs.


On each visit, they count and record the numbers and compare them to pre-set thresholds for putting on a spray or bringing in beneficials. They also compare those numbers week to week to see if they’re going up or down, and they compare before and after sprays to judge the effectiveness of each.


At the same time, they keep a record of beneficial insects to see if it’s likely they will begin to control the pests.


When needed, they will order and release predator mites for spider mites in fields of raspberries and strawberries.


“Miticides are expensive,” noted Teasdale, so a healthy mite population can really be a help for the pocketbook.


There are no beneficials available for many pests, but even the choice of sprays used can help conserve populations of the beneficials that are available.


JUDIE STEEVES


Kristine Johnson, left, and Carolyn Teasdale of E.S. Cropconsult use a microscope to help identify berry pests.


IPM replaces calendar spraying, which can be harmful to both the good and bad bugs and growers find they need fewer chemicals when IPM techniques are used, noted Teasdale. They even monitor the differences from farm to farm and field to field. IPM is not only less costly but it’s also good for marketing as many consumers now will ask about sprays. Sometimes, it’s necessary to be patient and give the populations of beneficial insects a chance to build


before spraying. “Cheaper broad spectrum


pesticides are not really cost-effective in the long run,” notes Teasdale. Johnson adds, “A low level of pests won’t cost economically and we let growers know when a spray is necessary—except with SWD, fruit worm beetles on raspberries and lygus bugs on strawberries, where there are lower thresholds than with other pests.


“A new pest like SWD throws a British Columbia Berry Grower • Winter 2011-12 13


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