Return to IPM in the Northeast, Regional Information
Tired of lecturing? Looking for a teaching kit that makes IPM easy?
Our new Northeast Regional IPM teaching modules comprise a hands-on, discussion-oriented series on the concepts and methods of IPM. It’s designed so you can mix and match modules to create the sequence that will work best for your clientele—or even use them singly, as needed, to augment your program.
The first five modules apply to just about any crop, anywhere. The ten modules that follow focus mainly on field crops and livestock.
This series was coordinated by educators affiliated with the New York State Integrated Pest Management Program in collaboration with many Extension educators throughout the Northeast. It was funded by a grant from the Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Program.
These modules are presented in PDF format so that they’ll paginate properly when you print them out. PDF files require "Acrobat Reader" software. If you don’t have it, just click here.
And please—let us know how we can improve these modules. Filling out the feedback form that comes with each module is a great way to help. Or link from this page to the on-line feedback form.
What’s in This Series:
Module 1: How To Teach These Modules
Learn the most effective ways to reach adult learners.
It helps to know the terminology—and the issues—before you attend a series of workshops on IPM. IPM isn’t only about the farmer’s pest triangle: bugs, weeds, and diseases. Any technique that promotes profit in the context of understanding environmental principles is fair game for IPM.
Module 3: Principles of Scientific Sampling
Treating for pests only if you have enough to cause damage is a core tenet of IPM. But how do we know when pest populations are too high? Unbiased scientific sampling provides you with accurate estimates.
Module 4: What is a Threshold?
Once again, treating for pests only if you’ve got enough of them to cause damage is a central tenet of IPM. But how much damage is too much? Thresholds define the point at which pests will cause a loss greater than the cost of controlling them.
Module 5: Economic Implications of IPM
Sampling and thresholds—how do they work together? And doesn’t IPM "cost" something, too? What could this really mean for your ledger sheet? This module explores the economics of IPM.
Module 6: IPM for Alfalfa Weevil
Biological controls have worked well for alfalfa weevil—but farmers still need to know how to recognize the weevil so they can catch and treat it early, in certain years and in fields where it may cause a problem.
Module 7: IPM for Corn Rootworm
The western and the northern corn rootworms can seriously damage your crops before visible signs appear. Not only that—but you can’t treat for rootworm till the following year. These factors make IPM a natural for corn rootworm control.
Module 8: IPM for Potato Leafhopper on Alfalfa
Potato leafhoppers usually won’t bother your first stand of alfalfa. But it’s the most damaging pest of second and third cuttings throughout much of the Northeast. And because vigor is lost before visible signs appear, sampling for early detection is crucial. Once symptoms appear, you can prevent further damage—but you can’t recover what you’ve already lost.
Module 9: Weed Identification in Corn and other Row Crops
Do you know for sure which annual weeds you have—and which cause the most yield loss in your fields? Can you treat weeds effectively if you’re not sure what they all are? This session teaches you the easy way to talk the talk and walk the walk—to use the botanist’s tools to identify any weed that comes your way.
Module 10: Weed Management for Row Crops: Application to Corn Production
Not all weeds reduce yields equally, and not all fields are equally liable to revenue loss from weeds. Learn how to determine if weeds pose an economic threat, and examine the various ways to control them.
Module 12: Optimum Corn Seeding Rates and Hybrid Maturity Selection (2 Sessions)
Understanding "yield potential" can help you reap the benefits of densely-planted stands, for silage and grain corn both. And learning how different hybrids respond to "Growing Degree Days" can help you choose a mix of varieties that helps you hedge your bets for high overall yields, season after season.
Module 13. Boom Sprayer Calibration
Is your equipment working for you or against you? Environmental stewardship— and good economics, too—can be as basic as being sure that you’re spreading chemicals where they should be, at the rate that’s required.
Module 14. IPM for Managing Barn Flies
The cumulative effect of barn flies, along with other livestock pests, can reduce milk production and feed conversion efficiency--and the flies quickly become resistant to insecticides. Discover how a combination of cultural, biological, and chemical practices can keep fly populations to a minimum.
Module 15. Designing In-field Demonstrations
You can design demonstrations on your own fields that tell you how well your cropping practices work with different pest management techniques, new hybrids, etc. Find out how to achieve statistical validity without too much work.
Coming Attractions…
Module 11: Manure As a Resource
Restrictive legislation concering manure management is here to stay. How can you best use manure to improve the fertility of your fields, while keeping it out of the watersheds? Learn about nutrient cycling and how to calculate the amount of available nitrogen—then use manure to replace expensive fertilizers.
About this site: http://northeastipm.org/
Sponsored by: the Cooperative Extension and Land Grant University IPM
programs of the Northeast (Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts,
New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont and
West Virginia), the United States Department of Agriculture, and the National
Science Foundation Center For IPM.
Credits:
The site "Integrated Pest Management in the Northeast Region" is part of the National IPM Network
This site is developed and managed by James
R. VanKirk, Facilitator for Northeast IPM Activities.
Design assistance and technical management: Karen English-Loeb, NY IPM Program
NIPMN logo and Northeast Region logo designed by Karen English-Loeb, NY IPM
Program
this page updated 3/21/01