Kristine K. Schlamp, IPM Coordinator
WSU Extension, Whatcom County

I am the new IPM Coordinator for Whatcom County, replacing Todd Murray who has now moved to King County. I am very excited about this, and look forward to working with the people of Whatcom County on pest management projects that concern us.

My background is well suited for this position; I hold a Master’s of Pest Management degree from Simon Fraser University, British Columbia (BC) and have spent a lot of time in the field working on various pest problems. I have been exposed to a wide variety of systems, including urban, agricultural, horticultural and even forestry projects. I have worked with a variety of field crops including cranberries, blueberries, strawberries, raspberries and potatoes, as well as a variety of greenhouse crops including cucumbers, tomatoes, and peppers.

This is not my first foray into extension work; while in BC, I worked at the Ministry of Agriculture and Lands, as a pesticide information officer, which exposed me to a variety of agricultural extension work. I have also had the pleasure of teaching various courses in the Horticultural department at Kwantlen University College (BC).

With these experiences and skills, I am ready and willing to take on the challenge of applying myself to the agricultural concerns of Whatcom County. Throughout North America, new laws are being proposed that restrict or eliminate usage of toxic chemicals, therefore innovative ideas must be investigated. Prevention is the first step, while cultural and biological controls are now the driving force of the research industry. In this sense, IPM is a viable management strategy and is becoming increasingly important in plantscapes and agriculture situation.

Disease Control for Fall

While you are out enjoying the crisp fall weather, it would be a good idea to pay particular attention to disease control in your garden or landscape area. Horticulturalists who sustain vigorous plants often use a combination of common sense (not necessarily so common) tactics to keep wilts, rots, leaf spots, and a plethora of similar diseases under control. Now, that you have spent the last couple of months fertilizing, watering and pruning (to name a few duties) and your garden looked wonderful, its time to pay particular attention to details so your work in the Spring may be lessened. Use the following strategies:

• Bacterial and fungal organisms produce spores and structures that are specifically designed to overwinter in your garden. Remove fallen leaves to reduce leaf spot diseases, such as black spot of rose and photinia leaf blight. Remove and destroy all your annuals. For vegetable gardens, remove crop debris that collected over the summer months. This includes tomato, potato, cucumber, melon and squash vines, as well as fruits and tubers. These basic sanitation steps will reduce diseases such as early blight and septoria leaf spot of tomatoes.
• If you didn’t do so in the summer, now would be a good time to walk through your garden and record each plant’s location, especially vegetables. This will help you plan for next season’s planting strategy. Diseases often build up in areas where the same vegetable has been planted in consecutive seasons. By rotating crops, farmers use this technique to keep disease incidence down.
• For those of you with fruit or nut trees, pruning will help reduce diseases such as fire blight and black knot. Proper pruning methods require you to prune at least six inches (15 cm) below the last visible sign of infection. After each cut, clean and disinfect your tools to prevent spreading the disease. Also remove any old fruit that remains hanging, or has fallen from the tree. Rake and destroy fallen leaves to reduce sources of inoculum of diseases such as brown rot and apple scab.
• New homeowners or people that have introduced new plants to their existing landscape should examine their plantscape with a critical eye. Overcrowding plants can encourage disease pathogens, so always plant new shrubbery at the recommended spacing to ensure adequate air circulation. Plants that are close to their neighbors don’t dry out as quickly and are vulnerable to disease attacks. Also, remove any dead or diseased branches.

Now that you’ve raked, picked and pruned, what should you to do with all this plant refuse; compost it? Although most foliar pathogens are destroyed, some soil borne pathogens will persist in rotting crop refuse. To eliminate these, proper composting methods are essential. A high temperature needs to be maintained for an adequate period. If the high temperature cannot be maintained, the plant refuse should be destroyed. For further information on composting, see http://www.whatcom.wsu.edu/ag/compost.

Finally, on those cold blustering days when you are flipping through garden catalogs, in front of a roaring fire, select varieties suitable to your site conditions. If possible, decide on cultivars that are disease-resistant. Understanding the needs of your plants as well as the needs of disease organisms will help you minimize losses, and make your garden an ‘easier place to grow in’ for both you and your plants.