Integrated Pest Management
What is Integrated Pest Management?
Integrated Pest Management, IPM, is a decision making approach to pest management that involves knowing the crop, pest, ecosystem, and the relationship between these components. IPM focuses on long-term management strategies including biological control, cultural manipulation, and using resistant varieties.
Pesticide treatments are only used when other options are not effective; pesticides with minimal risk to human health and environment should be selected first. Treatment decisions for a certain pest may differ due to variables such as climate, time of year, type of crop or plant, soil type, and other factors.
The base components of IPM are:
Prevention: Crops and plants should be grown in a way to maximize the health of the plant. Healthy plants are able to withstand more pressure from insect pests and disease.
Monitoring: Regular and systematic monitoring is done to determine damage to the plant and pest population and whether these values are increasing or decreasing.
Identification: Pests and diseases must be correctly identified before treatment options can be determined.
Threshold Determination: For agricultural crops, this is often an economic threshold; for home gardeners, this threshold is determined by how much damage the plant can withstand.
Treatment: Least toxic options are chosen first. These include cultural, biological, and physical methods.
Evaluation: Monitoring is continued after treatment to determine efficacy.
"Integrated Pest Management, IPM, is a decision making approach to pest management that involves knowing the crop, the pest, the ecosystem, and the relationship between all of these components."
Heading using the h3 tag
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum.