Hallmarks of IPM

Integrated Pest Management

Definition
"Integrated Pest Managment (IPM) is a sustainable approach to managing pests by combining biological, cultural, physical and chemical tools in a way that minimizes economic, health and environmental risks."

Principal Components
Integrated Pest Management uses several approaches to crop pest management.

Information on the pest identity, its life cycle, environmental impacts on the pest and the crop.
Economic thresholds are determined, ie., those levels of pest activity that make it more profitable to control than tolerate the pest.
Scouting by trained technicians is important, to correctly identify the pest, and to determine the relative distribution and liklihood that the pest will cause economically important crop damage.

The IPM Framework

Preparation
Collect information about pests to anticipate for your crops, when they attack, how they are recognized, and what to do about them;
Prevention
Make wise decisions to reduce liklihood of problems; crop rotations, sanitation, host plant resistance, site selection, biological controls;
Monitoring (scouting)
Regularly monitor crops to describe the pest populations present and their numbers;
Analysis
Use latest research information to determine when the pests reach the "economic threshold;"
Selection of control options
Use appropriate mix of mechanical, cultural, biological, genetic and chemical controls;
Implementation
Make certain that control decisions are implemented on time and on target;
Re-evaluation
Constantly evaluate control decisions to determine what changes will be needed for the next cropping cycle.

IPM When Something Runs Amuck!

Resources
Integrated Pest Managment Slide Set
Biocontrol Slide Set
Radcliffe's IPM World Textbook
The IPM Approach
History of IPM
TAMU IPM Home Page
IPM Almanac
Database of IPM Resources

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