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Nursery/Greenhouse Industry IPM Steering Committee Meeting 6-11-2009

Issues and Needs for the next 3-5 years

Issues:

Weeds-greenhouse

Perennial ornamental plants – weed control

  • Labor to clean up weeds
  • Nutrients removed
  • Weed seeds in water

Grasses are an important problem

Weeds .. a difficult concern in ground cover ornamentals and with plants in small containers.

Herbicide resistance is a concern

Sedges are difficult to control

Edible crops … non-bearing plant labels have a one year restriction – plants cannot produce fruit

for human consumption for one year after treatment.

Difficult weeds

  • Eliptica
  • Prostrate spurge
  • Upright spurge
  • An unknown, large, upright, lanceolate leafed weed

Weeds in seepholes of pots

Safe methods of controlling weeds around pots

Herbicide safety – wind issues

Mist blower – insecticide/fungicide waste

Seeds in water – introduced into pots

  • Mystery thistle
  • Liverwort

Control methods

  • Tilapia
  • Herbicides
    • Cutrina – rate issues

Plants with herbicide issues

  • Bulb plants

Water

  • Disease Management
  • Weed Seed Management
  • Nutrient Management
  • Availability of Water
  • Iron/sodium content

Economic Competitiveness – most issues discussed fit under this category

Cost Items

  • Fertilizer –
    • changing from Osmocoat because of cost
    • How much fertilizer for an oak tree
    • Water
      • How much for an oak .. a holly
      • Perennials flag in the heat .. response – more water … needed?
      • ET models for water
  • Labor
  • Herbicide

Losses

  • Wind turns over pots
    •  Fertilizer lost
    • Herbicide lost
    • Damage to plants – broken limbs
      • Pot stability – study of pot holding systems

Pest Timing Systems

  • Day degree models
  • Phenology gardens

Vertebrate Pests

  • Sapsuckers – No. 1 for tree growers
  • Feral hogs – lesser importance
  • Deer – occasional pests
  • Rabbits – occasional pests
  • Rats – not very often
  • Beavers – can be pests of water storage ponds

Plant Growth Regulators

  • Vegetables
    • To keep from getting leggy
  • Flower removal
  • Tree/shrub shaping and growth control
    • Crepe myrtle

Insects

  • Leaf cutting ants
  • Root mealybugs
  • Spider mites – miticide coverage, cost, rapid popl. increase, air blast sprayers
  • Other mites – identification
  • Thrips (western flower thrips)
  • Leaf miners ( gerbers, mums, verbena, citrus, elm, boxwood, cress)
    • Life cycle in leaves
  • Control – systemic insecticides

Insect problems on trees

  • 1st or 2nd leaf and stem galls –live oak and other oaks
    • Hard to control – timing and efficacy of products
    • Prevention
    • Salability affected – minimal tree health issues.
  • 1st or 2nd ambrosia beetles
    • No tools for control
    • Huge economic impact (red bud, pear, oak, maple, Chinese pistach, plum)
  • 3rd flat headed and longhorned borers
    • Need help
      • Adult ID
      • When larvae detected its too late
      • Pheromones
      • Flight prediction
  • Thrips  (problem on crepe myrtle, pear, young trees, early spring)
  • Other borers – peach tree borer
  • Mites – Bald cypress

Color ornamentals – top 4 insects

  • Western flower thrips
  • Mites – coverage/timing
  • Leaf miner – need more tools
  • Mealybugs – management problem

Shrubs

  • Scales are the primary problem – management problem – infested cuttings for propagation

Perennials

  • Same as color ornamentals
  • Leaf nematodes
  • Root knot nematode

Disease – top concerns for color ornamentals, perennials, trees and shrubs

  • Trees
    • Cankers – Nectria  (Chinese elm, pear)
    • Leaf spots – Anthracnose, Entomosporum (Photinia) better chemicals, rotation, identification, management
    • Fire Blight (plum, crab apple) – no tools available, prune out
    • Powdery mildew (crepe myrtle, white oak, bur oak, chinquapin, magnolia)
      • Need better fungicides, rotation strategies, management systems
  • Color ornamentals
    • Root rots
      • management systems (avoid overwatering, contaminated water, propagation related disease introduction)
      • need new and better tools
    • Crown rots
      • management systems (water management, heat, root bound, pot density)
      • Chemical often too late
      • New products needed
  • Other disease problems
    • Thelaviopsis
    • Rust – day lilies (susceptible varieties), iris, bald cypress
    • Phomopsis – juniper
    • Blight (Botrytis, Alternaria, Phomopsis) – all color ornamentals susceptible (not species specific), environmental
    • Downey mildew (coleus, salvia, rose) – have chemicals (preventative), but loose plants because disease moves fast
    • Viruses
      • Low incidence, normally
      • Chinese pistache higher incidence
      • Ajuga, higher incidence (looks like leafminer)

Environmental Quality

  • Spray drift
  • Run-off
  • Green Industry
  • IPM as Green promotion

Information Dissemination

    • Insect identification poster
    • One page fact sheets
    • Emphasis on information at meetings

Links

  • IPM For The Home
  • Insects In The City
  • Landscape IPM
  • School IPM
  • Vegetable IPM
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