Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, November 25, 1993 TAG: 9311240095
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV10 EDITION: HOLIDAY
SOURCE: Joe Hunnings
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
A technique finding more and more favor by farmers and home gardeners is integrated pest management, or IPM. The basic premise of IPM is that no single pest-control method, including application of pesticides, always gives the best control. IPM advocates regular monitoring to detect pest problems early.
One fundamental concept of IPM is that a certain number of pests and/or a certain level of pest damage may be tolerated. IPM also encourages integrating and evaluating biological, physical and chemical control methods into a scheme that provides adequate pest control that is both economically efficient and environmentally sound.
Native Americans and early settlers obviously did not have today's chemical controls available to them; they relied primarily on cultural and physical methods to control pests.
Some of their practices are still in use, such as removing beetles and caterpillars by hand, removing diseased plants, destroying crop residues, tilling soil to kill overwintering pest stages, removing alternate pest hosts and timing planting dates to avoid peak pest-damage periods. Methods like these gave adequate control of many pests during America's early history.
Over time, however, dramatic changes have occurred, mostly because of the intensification of agriculture and the importation of many plant pests from other countries. Chemical sprays were developed in response to epidemics of HOEIN' & GROWIN' JOE HUNNINGS imported plant pests. The new pesticides, such as DDT, were markedly effective.
However, by the late 1940s and early 1950s, scientists began to notice that some pests had developed a resistance to different pesticides. They noticed that insect damage to certain crops became more severe, despite the routine use of preventive insecticide cover sprays.
Pesticide use continued and increased as new pesticides were developed. Some provided an alternative to older chemicals for which some pests had developed resistance, but pests continued to develop resistance - it became a vicious circle.
While alternating pesticides was helpful, it became obvious that chemical application alone was not a complete system for pest control. Obviously, another system was needed. Some parts of the agricultural community went back to using some more-traditional approaches in combination with moderate pesticide use in more extreme infestation situations.
This ecological approach to pest management, which became Integrated Pest Management, stresses profit per acre rather than yield per acre, as it can drastically cut the use of expensive pesticides, ideally without losing much in yield.
With the new emphasis on economic belt-tightening and environmental health in the 1990s, we would all do well to look at alternative ways to control pests.
Effective, environmentally sound pest management requires considerable forethought and knowledge. You must be able to accurately identify plant pests and monitor their populations regularly. If you wait to act until your crop is nearly dead or heavily infested with pests, often your only recourse will be to plow under the plants or, at best, spray with a fast-acting pesticide that may or may not correct the problem.
The old adage applies here: An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Preventing pest problems through the use of physical barriers (row covers, nets) and proper culture (optimum plant health, removal of pest-ridden plant parts before spreading occurs, sanitation) can go a long way toward reducing the need for chemical pesticides, whether you want to use fewer chemicals, save money or are concerned about personal health and environmental safety.
\ Joe Hunnings is the Virginia Cooperative Extension Service agent for agriculture in Christiansburg. If you have questions, call the Montgomery County extension office at 382-5790.
by CNB