IPM, Insect Sampling, & Calibration | Massachusetts Approval #2024-000167

Instructors: Tyler Towles, Adam Whalen, Ben Thrash, Whitney Crow

Integrated Pest Management. Integrated Pest Management, or "IPM" for short, is an environmentally sound approach to controlling a pest population through common sense methods. Each control method will be addressed and defined in this presentation. IPM is a strategy focusing on the long-term prevention of pests or their damage through the use of multiple techniques.

Insect Sampling Techniques for Row Crops.  An important concern in agriculture management is minimizing insecticide use and controlling costs. The frequency of sampling is critical to making appropriate insect management decisions. These decisions should be made based on established treatment thresholds.

Pesticide Calibration. Calibration ensures that your equipment delivers the correct amount of pesticide uniformly across your field or target area and if done incorrectly or not at all has major consequences. It can mean the difference between control or failure of a pesticide. This course ensures you will be able to accurately calibrate using many types of application methods: broadcast application, banded application, multiple nozzles per row, and in-furrow applications.

After completing this course participants will be able to:

• Monitor and control pests through cultural, biological, mechanical, chemical, genetic, and host plant resistance methods.
• Describe resistance, how it develops, and integrative ways it can be managed.
• Describe the different calibration types and why it is so important to calibrate before pesticide application occurs.
• Become familiar with specific details and mathematical instructions on how to perform broadcast applications, banded applications, multiple nozzles per row, and in-furrow applications.