When you take the IPM definition in the last blog it becomes evident the IPM is a“decision driven trouble solve method” . You may be saying “ When I go to a coffee store I already have to make around 10 decisions just to get a cup of coffee , I may not need more decisions in my life . ”Yes but instead of just a loving cup of coffee , you get that“large , hot , ½ caff , non - fat , no foam , extra shot , no sweetner , Latte , with a dah of dark coffee powder , in my locomotion cup … and could you pre - heat my travel cup?.”IPM is decisiveness driven because you want the good decision for your particular pestilence , at a particular sentence and position , to get together a certain destination for your garden . IPM is tailor made for the specific situation to which it is utilize .

Before we go any further , we need another IPM Decision - make definition , “ Thresholds ” .

· trauma or Damage Threshold : decide how much hurt you’re able to tolerate on the affected plant(s).This impossible damage doorstep will vary post to place and plant to plant .

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· Pest Damage Threshold : the pest population that will cause the works impossible terms .

Here is a hypothetical instance :

1 Set Damage Threshold : Let ’s say you have a rosaceous bush . You want to expend some ( but not all ) of the rosiness as snub flowers for the house . Damaged and misshapen buds are not candidates , although for the bud left on the bush some deformation and damage is satisfactory . Some aphid on the plant life will draw in beneficial insects .

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2 pestilence Damage Threshold : You’ve acknowledge in the past , by Monitoring , that high levels of aphids distort the blossoms . You monitor the bud and find that if the aphid population on a bud stretch 20 or gravid the resulting blossom is distorted and not a candidate for cutting . You have now shew your Damage Threshold at 20 aphid per bud .

3 Action or Treatment Threshold : You’ve identified the aphid and learned about its lifespan - bike . It is affectionate and you know that aphid procreate very promptly since they give nativity to live fecund females that can start giving birth to more alive fertile females within a few days . You have taken into account the amount of time you could work in your garden . Within your prison term constraint you have decided that when the aphid population reach 10 aphid per bud , it is time to take some action . Your Action or Treatment Threshold is 10 aphids per bud .

· ant present?Are ants tend and protect the aphids?Some pismire tend aphids very much like dairy farmers tend to their cattle , this is an awful relationship . If so shut the emmet from the rose bush which will permit beneficial insects to contain the aphids . If you have a chance to discover the interaction of ant and aphids , do it!It ’s like watching National Geographic or Animal Planet on TV , only it ’s live action .

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· good insects present?Are there signboard of lady beetles , lacewing , syrphid flies , or parasitoids?If the answer is yes then you must be careful that any action you take does n’t injure the beneficials . Remember if you eliminate the beneficials you inherit their study .

· lap off the aphids using a “ cone work spray ” from an adjustable hose honker or apply a Fogg - It ® nozzle . Support the bud and outgrowth being washed to keep damage from eminent water pressure , which can damage the bud and root word . Household weewee pressure level of about 45 to 50 psi is more than adequate . If the “ cone cell spray ” generates a okay mist / fog , then the press it too gamey . rinse the plant in the morning so that the foliation can dry out before crepuscle .

· supervise again in a few Clarence Shepard Day Jr. to see if your initial treatment action worked . reprize the airstream - down when aphids reach 10 per bud . Aphids that are wash off of plants seldom make it back to the flora , they are usually dispatched by ground predators . Even if they are not trip up by predators , it ’s not like they have GPS so they can find their way back to the rose bush .

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Take a look at the IPM determination - Making cognitive operation agate line draft . It give you a graphic theatrical performance of IPM , which was defined in the “ Introduction to IPM and the Gardener ’s Guide to Common - Sense Pest Control ” blog posted on February 22 , 2013.This graphic read how the IPM Process all fits together .

“ Locate Focus Areas and Define Management Objectives ” is at the top . This is your preparation level , whether it is a raw garden , a renovation , or a continuation . What are thegoalsof your garden : is it a period of play area for kids , is it erosion control on a slope , maybe its only aboriginal plants , or is it a combination garden ( for instance solid food , flowers , and foliage ) , to mention just a few . The “ goals ” you define for your garden find out how you will necessitate to maintain it , be careful not to over - reach here which is a common stumbling pulley .

“ Monitoring ” is next . You will find out what pests you have in the garden and where they look first . With unexampled plants you will be able to determine which pesterer of the works occur in your garden .

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“ localise the trauma story and Treatment Threshold ” once you ’ve determined which cuss will be participating . This can motley widely depending on how you “ Define Management Objectives ” in the beginning . An uttermost example would be turfgrass . Our three examples are a golf game green , a home lawn , and a pike median . All three have turf pasturage . The golf game leafy vegetable must remain weed free , it is an athletic turf after all . The abode lawn is more a “ hayfield ” and some trefoil and other broadleaf plants are acceptable and desirable . The freeway median value need only be drive by scenic , who sees weed at 55 to 75 mph ?

“ Treatment Threshold Reached?”Ifnotthen go back to monitoring . If the Treatment ( Action ) Threshold has been reached it is time to select one or more Treatment Actions to apply against the pest . In IPM the most effective control is usually achieve when more than one tactic is applied .

“ Apply Treatment Program ” that employs maneuver effective against the pest and least disruptive to the rest of the garden environment . You do n’t require your solution to produce new problems , this is in reality quite common when using pesticides . Your intervention natural action may be simple , like washing aphid off of your industrial plant . It may be that you just squash the aphids in your hands ( wear down gloves ) , or maybe you stop using spry release nutrients and start using constituent plant food to eliminate those lush rush of growth that aphids party favour . The intervention get a little more complex if you need to wangle ants in ordination to get your aphid under control .

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Monitor to find out whether your treatment choices were effective , this is your feedback loop . In the case of our aphid example , you ’ll bed within a week or so whether your initial efforts were in force . I’ve happen that washing aphids off of plant life for three week in a row was commonly sufficient to reset the problem .

Keep in mind that there are a identification number of treatment tactics that we can add to our aphid direction scheme before we even think about our “ last resort employment of least - toxic pesticide ” .

IPM and the Gardener ’s Guide to Common - Sense Pest Control ( GG - CSPC )

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This serial of blog posts is the companion to our book“The Gardener ’s Guide to Common - Sense Pest Control ” , or GG - CSPC as we call it ,   published by Taunton Press . This is   the newly revise and updated edition of the 1995 original Gardener ’s Guide , which was drawn from the classic large book “ Common - Sense Pest Control ” print in 1991 . Practitioners of IPM ( Integrated Pest Management ) often touch to these two books as the “ Integrated Pest Management Bibles” . For over 20 age I ’ve used these playscript as my basal IPM resourcefulness in the area , in my consulting praxis and in my abode garden .

The writer of the original GG - CSPC areWilliam Olkowski , Sheila Daar , andHelga Olkowski . The co - source and editor in chief of the retool and updated edition isSteven Ash , that ’s me . One quick note of hand on the blog ’s “ spokesperson ” , when I speak of something in the leger I ’ll apply “ we ” , which mean one or more of the four authors was necessitate in some way . In the web log itself I ’ll apply “ I ” since it ’s me speak to you . Just so you do n’t think I have multiple personality when I utilise “ we ” .

See all theCommon - Sense Pest Controlmaterials here .

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