Resolve to Control These Pesky Critters 



Dr. Stanley R. Swier 



ri't' I sit here in my office watching the snow flakes 

 descend from the heavens, its hard to imagine that 

 spring is not that far away. However, you will soon be 

 producing bedding plants and trying to control the 

 pesky critters that affect your production. This article 

 will hopefully improve your success. 



Controlling insects and mites on bedding plants is 

 far more difficult than with other crops. Bedding 

 plant growers generally produce many plant species at 

 the same time. Each species has its own particular ar- 

 ray of pests that must be managed. Each species has 

 many varieties which vary in their susceptibility to 

 spray damage. Keeping track of pest problems, 

 phytoxicity, and production schedules for a large num- 

 ber of plant varieties is extremely time-consuming. 

 Soon you are overwhelmed. Here are some tips. 



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Good records are absolutely essential. No one can 

 remember the amount of detail that is required to 

 produce a large number of crops. I strongly urge you 

 to computerize as much information as possible 

 There are a large number of software programs out 

 there that can help you manage the information you 

 need. Usually it's best to assign this job to someone 

 who loves computers and sees this work as fun. How- 

 ever, anyone can learn the basics skills if they're will- 

 ing to put in the time. (To help you with your pesti- 

 cide record-keeping requirements, I wrote a fact sheet 

 with George Hamilton of Hillsboro County Cooperative 

 Extension titled "Pesticide Record-Keeping Require- 

 ments for New Hampshire". If you would like a copy, 

 contact your local county agricultural Extension educa- 

 tor.) By keeping good records, you will be able to 

 quickly fill out your annual pesticide use report re- 

 quired by the Division of Pesticide Control. You will 

 also be able to keep track of the re-entry require- 

 ments for workers as regulated by the Worker Protec- 

 tion Standards. Good records will enable you to de- 

 termine which pesticides are providing good control, 

 which are damaging your plants, and which varieties 

 are having problems. As an Extension entomologist, 

 it's very frustrating to have a grower call me asking 

 me for advice on chemical recommendations, but he/ 

 she can't remember or quickly find out what was ap- 

 plied or when. You should be able to readily tell us 

 the problem or symptoms, how widespread it is, and 

 on which varieties it is occurring. With that informa- 

 tion, we can often make a diagnosis over the tele- 

 phone. Complex problems will require a sample sent 



in to us for insect or disease identification. Good 

 record-keeping takes time but saves money in the 

 long run. Similar problems often occur year after year 

 and record-keeping will help you anticipate them. 



Check your plants when you receive them. Severely 

 infected plants should be discarded. 



Eliminate insects and other pest problems before 

 plants are placed in the greenhouse. It's easier to 

 control pests now than to wait until they are infesting 

 crop plants. Good weed control will significantly re- 

 duce future problems. 



Learn to identify the major pests of each variety. 

 Proper pest identification will enable you to choose the 

 most appropriate pesticide to control the problem. 

 Most pesticides today will only control a narrow spec- 

 trum of insects and proper pesticide selection is a must. 



Use yellow sticky cards (1-4/1000 sq ft) to monitor 

 insects. Inspect plants (3 plants/1000 sq ft). Weekly 

 monitoring of pest numbers on plants and cards will 

 help determine when and where pesticides need to be 

 applied. Write down your counts on a data sheet and 

 soon population trends will be evident. Be sure to 

 change cards frequently so as not to confuse weekly 

 counts. Again, it's best to give this job to a single indi- 

 vidual interested in IPM. Crop monitoring takes the 

 guesswork out of pesticide applications because it indi- 

 cates which treatments were effective. Although crop 

 monitoring is labor intensive, it may pay for itself in 

 more efficient use of pesticides and better crop quality. 



Space plants apart to ensure good spray coverage. 

 High-volume hydraulic sprayers generally give the 

 best coverage. Of the low-volume sprayers, the ESS 

 (electro-static sprayers) are best because they put 

 more droplets on the plants than other ULV sprayers. 



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Don't apply pesticides to stressed plants (i.e. heat). 

 Don't spray under hot or poor drying conditions 

 (cloudy, high humidity). Wettable powders (WP) tend 

 to burn less than emulsifiable concentrates (EC). Be 



February & March 1995 



