Organic Pest Management Getting Started - CT NOFA is

48 Pages·2013·3.38 MB·English

Organic Pest Management
Getting Started
Kimberly Stoner
CT Agricultural Experiment Station
New Haven, CT
What is a pest?
• Pest is a category in our minds, not in
nature.
• We may consider creatures pests because
they:
1. Harm some resource we want to protect
2. Cause direct harm to humans (e.g. transmit
disease)
3. Annoy us with their presence
Know Your Potential Pests
For each crop or other resource you need to protect:
• What are the important pests? Consider weeds,
wildlife, diseases, and insects.
• Which are priority items – those that can wipe out
a crop?
• How often are they present? How often are they
damaging?
• How can they be prevented? Monitored?
Managed?
Sources of information
• Records for your farm – and maps for weeds
• Other farmers in your area
• People: CT Ag. Station, UConn Extension
• New England Vegetable (or other crop) Guide
• Weekly pest messages for your crops:
(UConn, UMass, MOFGA)
• Organic Crop Production Guides from Cornell
• Meetings: NOFA, New England Vegetable
and Berry Conference
Planning
• Plan for prevention of pest and disease
• Plan for how to monitor for problems
• Plan for what you will do when problems arise
– e.g. when late blight or potato leafhoppers
arrive
• If your farm will be certified organic, you
need have all this in your Organic Systems
Plan, and then you will need to keep records
of implementation of the plan
Preventing Plant Disease:
• Crop rotation
• Resistant varieties
• Disease-free seed and seed treatment (hot water or
biological treatment – not fungicides!)
• Sanitation practices
• Soil organic matter and health
• Good water and air drainage
• Remove alternate hosts and diseased plant residue
• Avoid soil splashing
• Growing some crops under cover
From last year’s weekly vegetable
pest messages – Plant Diseases
• Cercospora leaf spot on spinach, chard
• Downy mildew on crucifers
• Downy mildew on basil
• Downy mildew on cucumbers
• Powdery mildew on cucurbits
• Early blight and Septoria on tomatoes
• Late blight on tomatoes
• Phytophthora on pumpkins
• Northern corn leaf blight on sweet corn
Preventing Insect Damage
• Good management of crop and soil
• Crop diversification and resistant varieties
• Insect barriers (row covers, tunnels)
• Timing of planting and harvest
• Encourage biological control – floral
resources for beneficial insects and pollinators
Economic Injury Level and
Economic Threshold
Ed Zabroski, University of Illinois, via eOrganic
Examples of Economic Thresholds –

Number of Colorado Potato Beetle per 50 Potato Stalks (mid season)
Life Stage Low High
Adults 15 or fewer 25 or more
Small larvae 75 or fewer 200 or more
Large larvae 30 or fewer 75 or more
vs. Potato Leafhoppers – Treat if more 1 adult per
sweep or more than 15 nymphs per 50 leaves
- New England Vegetable Recommendations – 2012 - 2013