Ask Your PCA: What qualities do you want in an IPM program?

Issue Date: April 8, 2009

By Tim Ustick, San Joaquin PCA, CAPCA Member

You need to use materials that are as soft on the environment as can be.

The water deal, in particular, is of real concern to me. We have to be careful about materials that may eventually end up in the water. Even materials that are applied in areas that are not near a river may eventually drain into a river. We need to police ourselves about this or the government will do it for us, and that could get ugly.

In addition to using materials that are easier on the water, I also use ground equipment much more, and from the air much less. This helps to avoid drift. And I think it is also more effective.

You need to be using materials that work. You need something that will kill the pests; you don't take a chance of not killing the pests. The cost of the products also matters because your program has to be economical.

You always try to keep as many of the beneficials around as you can, and it helps to use materials that are easier on them. I get most concerned these days about the potato aphids and the army worm complex. There are wasps that help us by attacking the army worms.

The mites weren't too bad in 2008, because we had to dust for mildew. But they have been at times in the past. When they are bad, the plants turn brown and it gets pretty ugly. The beneficial mites help to control these pests.

But with any pesticide you're going to end up with some damage to the beneficials so you have to watch closely to see how you are affecting the beneficials. Some of these materials will surprise you. One time I applied a pyrethroid to part of a tomato field that had russet mites and sulfur to the rest of the field. I was surprised to find out that the pyrethroids allowed the beneficials to recover faster than the sulfur did.

With the new materials we have I feel the fresh market tomato is a slam dunk. I feel we've cut back quite a bit on insecticide application for the fresh market tomatoes. We are still working on the processing tomatoes.

Permission for use is granted, however, credit must be made to the California Farm Bureau Federation when reprinting this item. Top