Integrated Pest Management Update
Project description and objectives:
The Integrated Pest Management Update is a statewide program that is geared toward educating nursery and landscape professionals to use the most current IPM control methods available. Its annual workshop is held in four locations and 
Polycom is used for several others. This program also serves as a platform to educate and raise awareness of new and present invasive pests throughout Florida while teaching the effectiveness of an IPM program that incorporates the use of Best Management Practices (BMP). In addition, Integrated Pest Management Update is an information network that responds to the need for nursery owners and landscapers to adopt IPM practices into their maintenance and production systems. This program successfully provides the expertise that is needed to address the broad range of pest management issues that confronts the commercial horticultural industry. Overall, Integrated Pest Management Update provides nursery owners and landscapers with IPM education and methodology along with BMP to be implemented into their operating systems.
Project Activities:
Integrated Pest Management Update was held live at Miami-Dade County Extension, Palm Beach County Extension, Gulf Coast Research & Education Center, and Mid-Florida Research & Education Center from May 20-23 consecutively. On May 23, 2008 Polycom was used to broadcast the program to Alaucha, Brevard, Pinellas, and Sumter County Extensions as well as Ft. 
Lauderdale, Indian River, North Florida, and Mid-Florida (MREC) Research & Education Centers with MREC being the origination site. The morning session pertained to nursery IPM covering the topics of palm diseases, nursery weeds, invasive insects, nursery fire ant management and quarantine treatments. The afternoon session was relevant to landscape IPM which taught palm diseases, invasive insects, citrus psyllid and greening management as well as scouting the landscape. Thirty minutes were allocated to product updates by company representatives at the beginning of each session. Each presentation was thirty minutes in duration including one break for participants to visit vendor displays.
This program also supplied attendees with factsheets on twelve invasive pests: Asian Citrus Psyllid, Chili Thrips, Ficus Thrips, Ficus Whitefly, Fig Wax Scale, Lobate lac Scale, Pink Hibiscus Mealybug, Red Palm Mite, Redbay Ambrosia Beetle, Sri Lanka Weevil, and Tabebuia Thrips. The factsheets outlined the introduction, infestation, biology, host range, damage, and management of each pest in relation to IPM practices. Also, factsheets were written in English and Spanish to accommodate linguistic backgrounds of nursery and landscape clientele. A total of 6000 factsheets were produced to hand out to attendees at all live sites and video conference locations. Two posters reflecting the twelve invasive pests were produced for each site. The posters were in English and Spanish as well.
Project accomplishments:
The Integrated Pest Management Update program gives nursery growers and landscapers the education and training in pest management and prevention to help integrate an effective IPM and BMP program within their production systems. This program is intended to raise awareness of pests and help clientele easily transition incorporation of IPM practices by use of research based knowledge. By attending Integrated Pest Management Update growers are able to decrease the environmental risk associated with pests and pest management.
Click here to view the Redbay Ambrosia Beetle factsheet (48KB pdf)
Click here to view the Chili Thrips factsheet (55KB pdf)
Click here to view the Weeping Ficus Thrips factsheet (43KB pdf)
Click here to view the Pink Hibiscus Mealybug factsheet (206KB pdf)
Project leaders:
- Lelan Parker, Commercial Horticulture Agent I, Orange, Lake and Seminole Counties, UF/IFAS