This program involves practical and economic solutions to pest management for the green industry and delivering training in practical, economic, and sustainable means of pest management. In addition to grower education, this program aims to fill the gap in public knowledge about general farming practices, pesticide tolerance, and insect damage tolerance.
The Annual Texas A&M AgriLife Greenhouse and Nursery Symposium, formerly known as the Greenhouse and Nursery Growers Regulatory Compliance Workshop, is held between mid-November to the beginning of December each year. The program offers 5 continuing education units (CEUs) for agricultural pesticide applicators in Texas, and always features one speaker from the Texas Department of Agriculture. For more information, visit https://sixleggedaggie.com/programs/
Mr. Erfan Vafaie
IPM Program Specialist-II
Email: erfan.vafaie@ag.tamu.edu
Office: 903-834-6191
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Tracking and Managing Crapemyrtle Bark Scale
The crapemyrtle bark scale is an invasive scale insect pest first identified on crapemyrtles in the US around 2004 near Dallas, TX. The scale appears as white spots on crapemyrtles, which are the female egg sacs or male pupa, and the immatures feed on the plant by sucking and excreting honeydew; a sticky sugary substance. Over time, the honeydew can become inoculated by a concoction of molds that give the appearance of black soot on the bark. A team of entomologists, horticulturalists, and economists across the US are tackling this particular pest by studying its biology, population dynamics, management strategies, alternate plant hosts, and biological control, to name a few. For more information, visit the project website at stopcmbs.com.
Insecticide Efficacy
As a part of ongoing efforts to provide growers with additional options of pesticides that will have lower non-target impact, lower environmental impacts, and act on different modes of action (to reduce chances of pesticide resistance), we are constantly involved in testing new pesticides in their ability to manage pests. Some of the target pests we study include: thrips, aphids, whiteflies, mealybugs, psyllid, and scale. Results are almost always published in Arthropod Management Tests, an open access academic journal, or the IR-4 Project Database.
Biological Control of Whiteflies
The sweetpotato whitefly, Bemisia tabaci, feeds on several important commodities, such as tomatoes, cotton, hibiscus and poinsettias. Over the past couple decades, new cryptic species of sweetpotato whiteflies have entered the USA (MED/Q) that are highly resistant to many of the commonly used insecticides. Retailers have also been placing increasing pressure on growers to reduce pesticide use, and in some cases, regulating the use of some pesticide classes altogether. This project is looking at the feasibility and economics of using two beneficial insects to manage whiteflies on poinsettias as a model crop. The two beneficial insects are a small parasitic wasp, Eretmocerus eremicus, and a predatory mite, Amblyseius swirskii, used together to suppress whitefly populations.