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IPM works to protect crops and pollinators

 

An entomologist says it’s a difficult balance to manage pests while leaving pollinators unharmed.

Rick Foster with Purdue University Extension tells Brownfield there are some key integrated pest management (IPM) practices specialty crop growers can use to protect their crops and pollinators.  “We want people to scout their fields and only treat when they exceed the economic threshold which is an average of one beetle per plant. We want them to use a pyrethroid insecticide.”  In cantaloupes, he says applying pyrethroids at the lowest rate can still provide pest control and be less harmful to pollinators than neonicotinoids.

He says late afternoon or night applying insecticides can also be beneficial when flowers are closed and pollinators are less active.

AUDIO: Brownfield interview with Rick Foster during Great Lakes Expo