Maryland IPM Report, 2019

NEERA meeting: May 1, 2019, College Park, MD

Submitted by Kelly Hamby, Maryland IPM Coordinator

Situation

Maryland is a heavily urbanized, densely populated state bordering the Chesapeake Bay, with ~32% of its total land area used for farming. The proximity between agriculture, environmentally sensitive areas, and human populations necessitates the implementation of sustainable IPM practices that reduce risks to human health and the environment. As the single largest commercial industry in Maryland, agricultural profitability and production must also be prioritized. Maryland produces a broad diversity of agricultural commodities, and our IPM programming targets pollinator health, fruit and vegetable crops, green industries, communities, and agronomic crops. Specific issues addressed include:

Pollinator health

• Improving health of managed bees
• Increasing pollinator habitat

IPM in fruit and vegetable crops

• Identifying Colletotrichum spp. causing anthracnose in Virginia, Maryland, and Pennsylvania to detect potential spread of a more serious species and improve anthracnose management
• Evaluating and improving the strawberry advisory system as a predictor of real-time disease incidence
• Improving management of late season bunch rots
• Developing a fungicide resistance testing service for grape production
• Improving spotted wing drosophila management in small fruit
• Developing BMPs for biostimulant use in vegetables
• Using cover crops for ecosystems services and weed management in vegetables

IPM in green industries

• Increasing sustainability of nursery, greenhouse, and landscape management practices
• Developing biological control approaches for emerald ash borer
• Improving brown marmorated stink bug management

IPM in communities

• Increasing homeowner adoption of IPM through Master Gardener programming

IPM in agronomic crops

• Reducing insecticide use through better understanding of pest pressure and efficacy
• Monitoring for resistant to Bt traits using sentinel sweet corn plots (we coordinate trials throughout east coast)
• Determining Dectes stem borer pest status, phenology, and monitoring approaches Improving weed management, particularly for herbicide tolerant weeds

Invasive species response

• Increasing citizen awareness of spotted lanternfly and boxwood blight issues
• Providing a tick identification service to better understand Asian longhorned tick distribution

Response

The Maryland project team conducts applied research to evaluate the efficacy of pest management practices and to develop novel sustainable tactics. Much of our work is performed in collaboration with stakeholders to better circumvent production constraints. We also perform demonstrations on stakeholders’ properties as well as at University facilities to encourage adoption of best management practices. We educate face-to-face at extension meetings, field days, workshops, train-the-trainer events, in-service trainings, and through booths at events. Numerous print and web-based newsletters, publications, announcements, and updates are provided in addition to media broadcasts, social media presence, online videos, and other approaches to disseminate timely research-based information.

Outputs and Impacts

Pollinator health

• A national survey of honey bee pests and diseases has been funded annually since 2009 by the USDA Animal Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) and conducted in collaboration with the University of Maryland vanEngelsdorp Honey Bee Lab, USDA Agricultural Research Service (ARS) and State Apiary Specialists.
  • Over the past 9 years, this nation-wide survey has become the most comprehensive honey bee pest and health survey to date, and provides essential disease and pest load base line information.
  • https://bip2.beeinformed.org/state_reports/
• MiteCheck is a national effort to collect varroa mite infestation data and to visualize varroa infestations in honey bee colonies across North America and Canada. About 366 beekeepers have recently been reached in Maryland, with an additional 420 beekeepers at the regional and national level.
  • The percentage of beekeepers surveyed who did not use mite treatments has declined from 31% to 11% in Maryland.
• Since 2015, the Bee Informed Partnership has engaged over 200 beekeepers in responsible varroa management via the Sentinel Apiary Program. The program consists of beekeepers participating in monthly monitoring of their colony and apiary health.
  • Results from this effort are public and can be viewed at: https://bip2.beeinformed.org/hive-scales/public
• Pollinator meadows established at 6 sites to be used for stakeholder education
  • Communicating with city council members and community volunteers to get approval for more meadow projects

IPM in fruit and vegetable crops

• Participating in multiple multi-state projects to improve SWD management
• SWD management presentations provided to local, regional, national, and international audiences reaching 475 people
  • Evaluation surveys at 10 events from 2015–2017, indicate more than half of the 50 respondents intended to (26%) or would consider (28%) changing their SWD management methods to align with recommendations (totaling 54%).
• Face-to-face extension activities reached 1,103 stakeholders interested in vegetable production
  • 75 vegetable growers know how to use biostimulants in their operations as well as use pest management strategies to manage insect and disease pests.
  • 52 vegetable growers that participated in advanced pest management training were given 2019 Vegetable Production Recommendation manuals
  • Survey results from 157 growers and consultants demonstrate that the outreach, trainings, presentations, on-farm trials helped growers by: Alerting them (80%) to new problems; 53% were provided with improved economic impact; 67% scouted more than before; 34% said it prevented yield loss; 58% said helped them implement better IPM programs.
• 13 vegetable growers’ farms were visited and on-farm trials were set up in the spring and summer. Trials consisted of small to large areas of the farm dedicated to answer a question the grower had.
• 18 small or underserved growers from Maryland were either trained or had demonstration or research trials set up on their farms.
  • Half of the 18 growers have changed either how they control a particular pest on their farm or have changed how they manage their cover crops to improve nutrient management.
• 1 peer reviewed publication, and 2 extension publications on vegetable IPM topics
• 28 vegetable IPM articles reaching 6,300 growers, consultants, and extension specialists
• All clover species have now been added to the state cover crop list. This allows farmers to receive cost share funds for planting clover cover crops as part of their grass-legume winter cover crop mix.

IPM in green industries

• Electronic IPM Pest provides multi-disciplinary real-time pest management information from March–October and reaches over 3,130 weekly subscribers
  • Subscribers share the report with more than 10,300 colleagues
  • Economic impacts of IPM report (453 businesses reporting):

	Range
Annual savings related to information in IPM report	$72,000 – $171,000
Annual increased earnings related to information in IPM report	$106,000 – $218,000
Total savings and increased earnings over this 5-year period	$890,000 – $1,945,000

• Online pest prediction calendar (2016 to present) uses degree days and plant phenological indicators to predict pest activity
  • 2,534 views in 2016; 2,714 views in 2017
• Advanced landscape IPM short course (30–40 hr program) has trained 634 people since 2005 from more than 20 state and 3 countries
  • Responses of how likely attendees are to make the following changes in practice (1 = not likely, 5 = very likely):

Fig. Chart showing likely changes in practice: “Increase plant biodiversity on client’s properties” (4.2), “Use non-chemical control tactics” (4.3), “Use reduced risk or organic listed pesticides” (4.3), “Identify pests or causal agent of problem” (4.7), “Monitor for beneficials” (4.7), and “Monitor for pests” (4.7).

• Developed and distributed bilingual (Spanish and English) pest landscape pest identification materials
• 5-day IPM scout trainings for greenhouse and nursery professionals have been conducted since 2017 and 50 professionals have been trained
  • 95% of participants evaluate the experience as “highly likely” to improve their diagnostic skills

IPM in communities

• Provide basic and advanced IPM trainings for Master Gardeners, including online modules and multiple in-person meetings
• Added new content to Home and Garden Information Center including 3 new lawn care pages
• Pre- and post-tests of Master Gardeners at Ecological IPM short courses indicate respondents (87) were 3× more able to identify pests and beneficials, 2× better able to select reduced risk and organic alternatives to manage pests, and surveys also indicate a 48% reduction in the use of pesticides and 45% reduction in fertilizer applications
• Maryland Grows blog posts on IPM topics- recent example: https://marylandgrows.umd.edu/2019/04/01/boxwood-blight-in-maryland/
  • Blog had 87,719 views in 2018 and currently has 445 followers by email and WordPress subscriptions. Blog posts are re-posted on Facebook where we have 3,494 followers.

IPM in agronomic crops

• Monthly issues of Agronomy News (reaches ~3,000 extension specialists, grain producers, and other stakeholders) from April to October
• Surveys of >3,200 agronomy winter meeting participants conducted from 2012–2016 indicate:
  • $16.23–$25.32 increases in per acre profitability
  • 6.5%–9.5% increases in per acre yield
• 5 peer-reviewed publications covering grain IPM topics
• Presentations on insect pest management to 851 people
  • 2 yrs of evaluations (176 respondents across 5 events) indicate that 84% find information to be of benefit and 55% plan to change their practices
• Coordinated Bt resistance monitoring trials occurred at 16 locations in 8 states
• In conjunction with Delaware and Virginia, conducted 6 herbicide resistant weed workshops

Invasive species response

• Developed and distributed promotional materials for spotted lanternfly as well as ID cards for spotted lanternfly and boxwood blight
• Received 42 tick samples (since fall 2018) and identified ~100 ticks from these samples