Ornamental Crops Electronic Communications

In an effort to effectively distribute Integrated Pest Management information to extension educators and growers of ornamental crops a three digital communication conduits have been established

Integrated Pest Management Field Day: Focus on Diagnosis 1999

NYS IPM Type: Project ReportThe objective of this project is to promote integrated pest control strategies to individuals responsible for Landscape and turfgrass maintenance. This program will be promoted both to individuals working in the public and private sector. Since accurate diagnosis is the first step in IPM, improving the diagnostic skills and scouting in the landscape situations will be key objectives of this project. Resource handouts from this program to allow participant to have a reference for pest problems. In addition a familiarity with the diagnostic process and the availability of assistance through diagnostic labs will be created

A webinar series and interactive grower outreach for pesticide resistance management in greenhouses

Through an interactive webinar series and accompanying online materials, this project is reaching growers and extension educators with resistance management IPM techniques. To ensure the relevance and usefulness of the information, we have worked with NY growers to evaluate their understanding of pesticide resistance and to develop IPM based plans for resistance management to train other growers in New York State, EPA Region 2 and beyond in IPM methods for pesticide resistance management. The anticipated outcomes include a reduction in pesticide exposure and the reduction in potential release of pesticides to the environment through a reduction in pesticide use

Alternative Weed Management Techniques for Greenhouse and Nursery Production

NYS IPM Type: Project ReportGreenhouse and nursery producers in New York have highlighted weed management as a priority area for research and education. In response, we demonstrated the effectiveness of two alternative weed control practices – parboiled rice hull mulch and solarization. The rice hulls very effectively suppressed weed establishment if applied in a layer 0.75” thick, which is a result that growers can use to inform their management. Likewise, we demonstrated that solarization, even in non-ideal conditions, can achieve temperatures high enough to kill weed seeds, which growers commented would be helpful prior to planting

Powdery Mildew Management with Biopesticides on Greenhouse Grown Plants

Greenhouse production of vegetables and herbs is a growth industry in New York State. There were123 operations and 2,568 acres in production listed (USDA’s 2014 Census of Horticultural Specialties). The total acreage of high tunnel, hydroponic, and traditional greenhouses growing food crops to harvest increased by 58% since 2009. There is also a trend in floriculture greenhouses to increase vegetable transplant production due to the increased interest in home vegetable gardening, and to add vegetable production during the ornamental off-­?season. Disease issues differ in field and greenhouse vegetable production, and conventional pesticides registered for ornamentals are rarely labeled for food crops in greenhouses. Growers request information about an integrated approach to pest management, including cultural methods and biopesticides. Our objectives for this ongoing project are to gain first hand experience with biopesticides and to develop efficacy data

Survey of IPM Practice Adoption in New York State Greenhouses

A survey of New York greenhouses was run to evaluate the level of adoption of IPM practices and to compare the results with a baseline survey completed in 2000.  Questions covered important crops and pests, cultural practices related to IPM, scouting, disease/weed/insect management, and where respondents receive their IPM information.  Three hundred and ninety four surveys were completed; a 44% response rate.  Most respondents use at least some preseason sanitation methods.  Analysis of pH and nutrient levels in water, growing media, or foliage is not a common practice.  Also, improvement could be made in calibration of sprayers. Scouting is widely accepted as an IPM practice and most growers use some additional elements of IPM in their pest management.  Cornell Cooperative Extension is the most common source of information cited.  Overall response rates were similar to those in 2000, although the adoption of scouting and use of scouting information has increased by 30 percentage points

Weed Suppressive Groundcovers

Plants found to be weed suppressive through Cornell research can be used to naturally suppress weeds.   These attractive plants represent a new market potential for NY greenhouse producers.  We have published a color brochure and website to describe these plants and promote their use to suppress weeds.  We also coordinated the establishment of demonstration gardens at several locations across the state.  The recently published brochures have been well received.   The increase in sales of these plants will be tracked prior to and during the two year period of this project.  An analysis of the results will be conducted.  The results will be shared state wide

Nursery IPM Practices - Survey

A survey of New York Nursery growers was conducted in 2007 to assess current cultural and pest management practices.  Nearly 150 growers responded to a series of questions regarding production systems, pest problems, management approaches, information and training sources and educational needs.  The results indicate an opportunity and interest on the growers’ behalf to provide IPM information particularly around pest identification, and biological control.   There also appear to be opportunities to increase knowledge of the timing of controls and access to good decision making resources

Trico: A Novel Repellent for Preventing Deer Damage to Ornamental Shrubs

Homeowners whose landscape plants are repeatedly browsed by white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus; deer) desire repellent products that are effective and long-lasting. We conducted a 12-week trial from January 6 through April 5, 2021 to test the duration and efficacy of a novel deer repellent (Trico®) relative to Plantskydd®, a commonly used deer repellent, and untreated plants. We placed treated and control Japanese yew shrubs (Taxus media ‘Hicksii’) at 4 homeowner sites (Birch Hills Drive, Fairview Crescent, Pinegrove Ave., and St. Paul Blvd.) near Rochester, New York, USA, where we detected deer presence. Yews are frequently eaten by deer during winter and provide a good bioassay for testing repellents. To gauge the efficacy of the repellents, we photographed the yews and scored the level of deer browsing. We used ordinal logistic regression to determine the change in efficacy over time. Trico deer repellent reduced deer damage to yews (chi-square = 97.273, P \u3c 0.0001). Damage to yews treated with Plantskydd did not differ from control plants (chi-square = 0.24, P = 0.621) after 12 weeks. The performance of deer repellents varied considerably among sites (chi-square = 109.460, P \u3c 0.0001). Where there was intense deer browsing pressure (Pinegrove Ave. site), both repellents failed to protect the yews. However, at 3 of 4 sites, the Trico repellent effectively protected yews from deer browsing during winter through spring green-up in April. We found Trico to be an effective, long-lasting repellent for protecting ornamental shrubs from deer browsing during winter

Effective Aphid Management in Greenhouse Crops by Optimizing Biological Control and Nutrient Inputs

NYS greenhouse growers have reported that aphids are among their greatest pest problems. They are seeking biological control alternatives in part to increasing public pressure to stop using neonicotinoids, the most commonly used insecticide for aphids. Climbing fertilizer prices and potential state legislation regulating nitrogen has increased greenhouse grower interest in reducing fertilizer inputs. Slow release fertilizers (SRF) can reduce nutrient leaching but more work is needed to determine effective application rates for bedding plants and vegetable transplants. The objective of this project is to develop, field-test, and share an integrated pest management approach for managing greenhouse aphids using beneficial insects and reduced fertilizer inputs