Integrated Pest Management Systems (Bernalillo County)

1)I instruct the beginner classes in pesticide applicator certification and training courses in general entomology and give students more detailed and illustrated examples of ten potential pests they could encounter in turf management and ten more potential pests they could find in management of ornamentals. All of these subjects are covered in the current revision of the Category 3A study guide for applicator hopefuls in Ornamentals and Turf. For all of the Category 3A beginner classes in 2005-06 (representative of classes instructed in other years), fewer than 5% of licensee hopefuls indicated any prior instruction in entomology in general, or arthropod pests on turf or on ornamentals. When the class is nearly complete, license hopefuls have seen and heard all of the basic information needed to pass the entomology portion of the licensing exam; they also have heard that the information given in class is in printed form in the study guide; they have been instructed to review it again before the exam. While none of the concepts are especially difficult, students indicate that at least 60% of them benefit from the lecture, learning and understanding concepts faster than they would on their own. At the completion of the class, 72% could successfully associate 5 or more pest arthropods with either their turf or ornamentals hosts. Their overall recall scores on mouthparts, development type, damage done, etc. for these 20 example organisms exceeded the 50% mark. They were reminded that the entomology portion of Category 3A was explained to them and that they had the opportunity to “test” their understanding without repercussions. Studying would improve performance.

2)For students in Master Gardener training in 2007, approximately 30% found information and pictures of potential new pests interesting in one way or another. At least 70% of the same students already thought those pests were established in New Mexico since many of these pests were present where students lived and gardened prior to moving to our state. Consequently, 70% of respondents learned that not all arthropods are distributed across the nation; gardeners watching and willing to submit mystery arthropod samples for identification or confirmation as Master Gardeners can have significant impacts on the state’s horticultural and agricultural interests.

3)At the end of 2007, we’re at this point of specialist-agent interaction and prioritization to identify and prioritize focal points for agent and client information needs for the coming year(s). “New invasive pests” have been included as “be on the watch for these” items in prior and current year Master Gardener training; many have been shared routinely with the commercial and public applicators at their certification & training workshops as well as with the annual reports for the Southwestern Branch Entomological Society of America, Insect Detection, Evaluation and Prediction Committee with which I have served for over 20 years, frequently as chair. I have also included general information on more “organic” or reduced risk pest control practices for home vegetable garden and some landscape situations, largely due to client preferences when specimens are submitted for identification. This is true for Master Gardener, general gardening/landscape clients and for at least some agents at their request.
Fully 90% of clientele asking the IPM entomology specialist directly for pest control information requested “organic methods” rather than more conventional approaches or insecticides due to concerns about personal health and well-being, environmental concerns and the health and well-being of pets, wildlife, livestock and children.

4)Displays of actual insects, both native and exotic, are almost always used for entomology outreach programs for youth and adults; PowerPoint presentations are usually reserved for specific, generally older audiences requesting specific instruction or topics. For all ages, displays are especially effective when the audience has the opportunity to view the

specimens “up close” and ask questions, making such an educational experience more interactive and better tuned to audience interests. Audiences have the opportunity to see and learn a bit about a minimum of 10 arthropods that they would likely see around their homes, as well as some of the extremes of these same species as they occur in other parts of the world. Features of insects, ticks, spiders, sun spiders, centipedes, millipedes, scorpions and vinegarones are typically illustrated with locally collected material, sometimes live. Specialists in the NMSU 4H Department demonstrated how the entomology instruction manual for 4H (by Richman and Sutherland, Insects Rule the Planet) meets various age-appropriate performance levels as shown for New Mexico’s educational standards and benchmarks for sciences and mathematics. Brochures for different classes and age groups will be under preparation since the manual has educational applications in schools as well as for 4H activities.

Homeowners and commercial properties use a tremendous amount of pesticide chemistry every year. Due to several factors, including lack of specific knowledge and a "more is better" philosophy, these uses account for a large proportion of mis-applied pesticides. People quickly reach for any number of pesticide products at the first sign of landscape problems (e.g. dead areas in turf lead to application of fungicides, prior to confirmation that a fungal problem exists and without correction of underlying environmental conditions allowing fungal growth to occur).

I work with a number of local and regional landscape maintenance firms and public institutions, helping them identify damaging insects and diseases, and helping them understand the underlying environmental conditions that may be contributing to the severity of expression. I have worked with TruGreen Chemlawn, Waterwise Landscapes, Tree Sculptors, National Hispanic Cultural Center, Albuquerque BioPark, Scientific Tree Care, Craig Pest Control, Expo New Mexico, HeadsUp Landscaping, City of Albuquerque Parks Division, Arca Organics, A-Ron’s Pest Control, Divine Earth Aesthetic Pruning, Baca’s Trees, and many, many others. Consultations usually result in accurate identification of casual organisms and/or conditions, and recommendations to alleviate conditions and control organisms. Agent has not developed formal evaluation document for these people to use to provide feedback, but judging from the number of repeat callers and the number of referred callers, I have become seen as a reliable expert to this industry.

In the Master Gardener trainings, I emphasize some of the same concepts. We teach interns about good plant selection, appropriate care, and the intricacies involved in accurately identifying organisms that may or may not be pests. We teach them to recommend holistic approaches to landscape problems, which may or may not involve the use of toxic pesticide materials. This season, our class numbered almost sixty new interns. We administer a pre- and post-class knowledge survey, and see an average increase in knowledge, as captured by the survey, from 64% correct to 81% correct. As many of these questions deal with the underlying factors affecting pest pressures, as well as with common pests themselves, it gives up a good indication that our training is working well to inform the Master Gardeners, who in turn communicate with thousands of area residents every year.

Presentations that I developed and presented for the 2007 Master Gardener series that related to IPM include: Albuquerque Soils, What to do About Weeds, Common Weeds of the Albuquerque Area, Pests: Symptoms to Causes, Diseases: Symptoms to Causes; I.P.M.: Basic Principles and Concepts for Master Gardeners, and Master Gardener Diagnostic Process. Typical scores on Speaker Evaluation forms are 9 or 10 out of 10 in areas such as Scope, Usefulness, Organization, Content, Met Expectations. Typical answers to the question (from same Speaker Evaluation form), “What did you like most about the presentation and why?” include: “The speakers knowledge and enthusiasm + his ability to convey information clearly”, “Presenter is engaging and helpful; followed the written material”, “A lot of things I didn’t know”, “At appropriate level with good explanation of terminology”, “Content, enthusiasm made it even more interesting, he took questions comfortably and answered confidently”, “Energy, enthusiasm, knowledge, anecdotes, and humor – Great?!”, “Joran is a great speaker, mixing fact and anecdotes well”, “Very, very informative”.

I also field from five to fifteen calls per day, on average, during the busy season (April through August). Of these, a good number have to do with pest control questions. These are mostly landscape issues, but I will take calls related to indoor pests as well. On the majority of these types of calls, I am able to make an accurate diagnosis of the problem, and suggest both fundamental corrections to the plants’ environment, and where appropriate, chemical control recommendations. Often these latter fall along the line of NOT using a given chemical or pest service, as the use would not be appropriate. I have saved homeowners many thousands of dollars in un-necessary pesticide applications, and reduced environmental contamination due to pesticide overuse in the process.

In addition to calls and walk-in clients, I go out on field visits quite frequently. Many of these site visits are to individual homeowners, but also include commercial and institutional sites. While this takes some time per client, it also provides the client with the absolute best information I can, and I learn more in the process. These clients become some of Extension’s best advertisers, a situation which leads to ever more calls. A typical thank-you note from one of these clients reads as follows:
“Sept 19, 2007; Dear Horticulture Agent Viers, This note is to thank you for your encyclopedic insight/research into recent pests in my new landscape. I had heard you were very helpful, and I completely concur! What a great service you offer, and a terrific example of our tax dollars at work! I hope I can contact you again if I have creatures I can’t identify. I going to look into the book you recommended and maybe that will help me stay out of your hair. Thank you again for your generous time and help. Barb Rowe, Bernalillo County Resident”.

For most of my clients, changes in knowledge occur at a very basic level. They come to me knowing very little about a situation, or knowing incorrect information. The new knowledge they go away with should cause many changes in their behavior as it relates to pest control. For some, this change is seen in how they view arthropods in the environment in general (with a strong move away from, “if it moves, it’s bad and must be killed”); for others, it is new information on an existing problem that expands their ability to take actions that will have the desired results. With some of the more experienced clients, be they landscape professionals or life-long gardeners, changes are more subtle and often consist of fitting in a missing piece of the puzzle. These clients would not report as dramatic a change in knowledge or behavior, but the changes they do make certainly result in positive impacts in their efforts.

Joran Viers has signed on to support Integrated Pest Management Systems within Bernalillo County.