Implementation of Integrated Pest Management Scouting Programs in Floriculture
Implementation of Integrated Pest Management Scouting Programs in Floriculture
Karen Robb, Floriculture and Nursery Crops Farm Advisor, University of California Cooperative Extension
EAGLE-EYED SCOUTS: CROP SCOUTS PROVE TO BE A KEY TO CROP SUCCESS
Excluding perhaps the Lone Ranger, most humans appreciate someone watching over them. Plants do, too. But the health of dozens of crops on multi-acre production range is tough to monitor without an organized effort. And growers are finding a trustworthy scout helps. The backbone of a solid, integrated-pest-management program, a scout routinely gathers information about crop health. S/he looks for pests and plant abnormalities, records what is found, summarizes this data, and reports it to the grower — who then can implement a timely, pest-management strategy. An eagle-eyed scout spots crop problems early, before they escalate into full-blown crises. As a result, insect and disease-organism populations can be controlled while they’re still small. And ineffective production practices can be amended before a stressed crop attracts nature’s low life or loses its salability.
Entomologist Karen Robb is completing an Endowment-funded effort to quantify scouts’ economic value to commercial plantsmen. Under her direction, trained scout-interns parceled out to regional farm advisors in California are monitoring crops gratis for a limited period. All tolled, the scouts are overseeing the health of over 20 plant species grown in the field and greenhouse as cuts and potted plants. And early reports on the scouts’ effectiveness are positive. In one region, a scout-assisted mum grower reduced pesticide use by more than 30 percent over the summer months.
The scouts’ crop reports benefit the growers they serve and scout-training programs. Robb is using their hands-on experiences to enrich training materials and workshop presentations, develop informative pest-management posters — and prove her point: “…that the cost of scouting is more than offset by decreased pesticide usage and better quality crops.” An economic analysis of the interns’ impact on their regions should be available later this year.
FOR MORE INFORMATION, CONTACT RESEARCH-PROJECT LEADER:
Karen Robb, Floriculture and Nursery Crops Farm Advisor, University of California Cooperative Extension
