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Integrated Pest Management Florida Newsletter - V1N2

IFAS Takes IPM Abroad

The message is not new, but the medium is.

On April 13, entomologist Carl Barfield lectured on the benefits of IPM. His listeners were not familiar UF students or faculty. Instead, they were students and faculty hundreds of miles away in Jamaica. Barfield's lecture was a "telecourse" -- delivered through television cameras in a UF television studio and broadcast by satellite to the University of the West Indies in Kingston, Jamaica.

From there, Barfield's voice and visual aids were transmitted to seven rural sites and viewed by staff of the Rural Agriculture Development Authority. The audience watched the presentation and asked questions via a telephone line. The telecourse was the first interactive lecture provided by UF/IFAS to cross international borders.

UF/IFAS educators, already extensively involved in international education, want to take advantage of the latest broadcast technology to overcome long distances while simulating a classroom setting. Distance learning is being widely promoted by the Florida government.

Barfield's lecture included three modules: a case study of the adoption of IPM in Indonesia, IPM and biodiversity, and sampling. Barfield, who has tested the effectiveness of IPM teaching modules in Jamaica, Honduras, and other countries, will evaluate how well the students in rural sites, who received only sound and graphics, learned compared to those who received the entire video presentation in Kingston.

Barfield and IFAS Educational Media & Services Director Don Poucher, along with Jamaican colleagues, are preparing competitive proposals for Caribbean-wide training in IPM and conservation biology via satellite.

Where to Get "Good" Bugs

California's EPA has published a book titled Suppliers of Beneficial Organisms in North America by Charles D. Hunter. The book lists 120 different beneficial organisms available from suppliers in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico. To get a free copy of this 31-page "good bugs" book, contact the California Environmental Protection Agency, Dept. of Pesticide Regulation, Environmental Monitoring and Pest Management Branch, 1020 N Street, Room 161, Sacramento, CA 95814-5604. Phone: (916) 324-4100

Hillsborough County Kicks Off Nursery IPM Program

The Hillsborough County Cooperative Extension Service has secured the cooperation of 13 container woody ornamental nurseries for a demonstration IPM project. The nurseries represent approximately 350 acres total. The demonstration nurseries have agreed to abide by 20 recognized IPM principles for a two-year period (July 1, 1995 - June 30, 1997), according to Roger Newton, Extension Environmental Horticulture Agent.

Some IPM principles that the nurseries are asked to follow include scouting, using least toxic pesticides to protect beneficials, establishing an economic threshold level for plant production, using biological control agents (predators), maintaining records of pest occurrence, and positioning beneficial insect host plants throughout the nursery.

Dr. Don Short and Dr. Russ Mizell of IFAS provided intensive training for the nurseries on June 8th at the Hillsborough County Cooperative Extension Office. Each nursery was represented at the training workshop by an owner or manager and a pest manager.

During the two-year demonstration period, the nurseries will share their results. If results are positive, a full-scale educational program, including intensive scout training, will be launched with the Hillsborough County Ornamental Plant Production Industry, which includes 650 production nurseries and 3,000 total acres. In addition, the 13 nurseries will collect biological data on spider mites and scale insects. These pests were previously identified in a survey as the most significant pests limiting the quality production of ornamental plants in Hillsborough County. Data on beneficial organisms and climatic conditions will be collected twice a week during the two-year study.

Attention All Counties!

Sarasota County Cooperative Extension Service has prepared a model IPM Administrative Directive based on the actual document that governs pest management in Sarasota County. The Sarasota County program has been operating successfully since 1991. This model IPM Directive is adaptable for use in all counties and at any level of government. To receive a copy, contact Michael Holsinger, Director, Sarasota County Cooperative Extension Service, 2900 Ringling Blvd., Sarasota, FL 34237, (813) 951-4240.

Did You Know?

Experts recommend these useful IPM techniques:

  • yellow sticky traps for whiteflies
  • white paper and branch shaking for mites
  • bark inspection for borer pupae or damage
  • pheromone traps for male borers
  • Tedders trap for weevils
  • grouping plants with similar requirements together
  • spot treatment of controls

Commercial Nursery Ornamental Resource List

Dr. Jim Price and other specialists of UF's Department of Entomology and Nematology have compiled a resource list of IPM publications related to commercial nursery ornamentals. To obtain this listing, contact Dr. Donald Short at (904) 392-1901, ext. 120, or write to: Dr. Donald Short, UF Dept. of Entomology and Nematology, P. O. Box 110620, Gainesville, FL 32611-0620 or e-mail.

 

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