It’s Invasive Species Awareness Week — now. Pay it heed. Invasive species, it turns out, are a huge deal in the US, in New York. Everywhere, in fact. Coping with invasive insects, pathogens and the like have cost, in the US as a whole, upward of … OK, I’m hedging already. Is it $40 billion…Continue Reading It’s Invasive Species Awareness Week all over the U.S.
Invasives are pests! Learn more at our July IPM conference.
We tend to default to bugs — to insects — when we think about pests. But plant diseases and weeds are pests too. And all threaten our fields and farms, our forests and streams, our homes and workplaces. Pests provide no end of challenges — especially pests that come from afar. Among IPM’s strengths? Researching…Continue Reading Invasives are pests! Learn more at our July IPM conference.
Slugs in Your Garden? Here’s What to Do (or Not)
Now maybe you’re in the 2016 drought zone in upstate New York. If so, slugs aren’t quite the hassle they were just a year ago. But doubtless you’ve been gardening long enough to know what a bad slug year is like. And should the weather turn drenchingly wet way longer than you need it to…Continue Reading Slugs in Your Garden? Here’s What to Do (or Not)
For Wasps, Prevention Is Key — and the Time Is Now
Most of the wasps we’re too familiar with (and afraid of) are sociable with their own kind, building large nests in trees or underground. The problem is when they build nests under your eaves, picnic tables, or even (if you’re a farmer) under the seat of that baler you’re about to rev up as part…Continue Reading For Wasps, Prevention Is Key — and the Time Is Now
Farm Demos, Scouting, Resourcefulness Earn IPM Award
Always positive. Wonderful to work with. An invaluable resource. Accolades like these don’t just pop up out of nowhere. In Sandra Menasha’s case, they speak to the qualities that earned her an Excellence in IPM award. Menasha is a vegetable specialist with Cornell Cooperative Extension (CCE) on eastern Long Island. A few short decades ago,…Continue Reading Farm Demos, Scouting, Resourcefulness Earn IPM Award
IPM Accolades: What Do Growers Say?
If you flash back to last week’s TAg post, you’ll see our side of the story — how TAg teams provide hands-on help to growers for a host of pest (and profit) issues. But what do growers say? Here’s a small sample of the pleased comments we’ve received over the years: How TAg has made…Continue Reading IPM Accolades: What Do Growers Say?
IPM TAg Teams: A Quarter Century Later, What’s Old Is New Again
The NYS IPM Program turns 30 this year — a great time for a look down memory lane. We were five years old, for instance, when we began our TAg — Tactical Agriculture — teams for field crop producers. Then (and now!), TAg teams across the state met at key times during the cropping season:…Continue Reading IPM TAg Teams: A Quarter Century Later, What’s Old Is New Again
There’s an App for That: IPM’s “Greenhouse Scout” Makes “Greenhouse Grower” List
NYS IPM’s Greenhouse Scout was featured recently in Greenhouse Grower’s online e-Newsletter as one of 15 apps for 2015. Here’s why. In the pest-friendly environment of a greenhouse, you need all the friends you can get. So more and more growers are turning to biocontrol — to using beneficial insects, mites, and fungi to control…Continue Reading There’s an App for That: IPM’s “Greenhouse Scout” Makes “Greenhouse Grower” List
Watch for Pine Sawflies
Notice needle damage on pine trees? Look close. It may be caused by conifer-feeding sawflies. Sawflies feeding on Scotch pine Sawflies? As larvae they look caterpillars which might develop into moths, their name implies they’ll be flies, but they actually become non-stinging wasps as adults. And the saw? As adult wasps the females cut slits in…Continue Reading Watch for Pine Sawflies
Teaching Growers About IPM for Sweet Corn
Many growers practice Integrated Pest Management (IPM), but a refresher is always welcome. And of course, there are others that need a little convincing to try IPM. This year we’re providing on-farm IPM demonstrations at three sweet corn farms throughout NY. Growers have agreed to set portions of their fields aside and let IPM practices…Continue Reading Teaching Growers About IPM for Sweet Corn