Conquering Oklahoma’s Pest

IPM OKLAHOMA! manages many pests — from alfalfa snout weevils (top) and red imported fire ants (bottom left) to khapra beetle larvae. Photos by Adobe Stock Images.

CONQUERING

Oklahoma’s Pests

Aenemies or chemical pesticides can be implemented in IPM OKLAHOMA!, Giles said. IPM is an approach for IPM HELPS RESIDENTS OVERCOME NUISANCES mong the plants hide insects, weeds and diseases. Farmers are destined to fight these problems, but according to Oklahoma long-term, sustainable and safe pest State University Extension, they do management practices, Giles added. not have to handle “Two of the them alone. They can bottom lines for turn to an OSU pro- me are always, gram to spend less and ‘Is it saving a spray less. producer mon-

Kris Giles, Regents ey?’ and ‘Is it professor in entomolo- benefiting the gy and plant pathology, environment?’” said integrated pest said Tom Royer, management offers entomology and Oklahomans a helping plant pathology hand in conquering professor and pesky nuisances. coordinator for

IPM OKLAHOMA! is an extensive IPM OKLAHOMA! “The practices we strategy of controlling pests using advocate through IPM do both.” different methods for various circum- IPM OKLAHOMA! is a free restances, Giles said. source to any Oklahoman looking to

“It’s a comprehensive approach to tackle insects, pests or diseases for any managing pests in all different types of circumstance in rural or urban setsituations — agriculture, horticulture, tings, Royer said. household, urban and schools — with Royer said the current IPM program the idea that it’s economically viable, at OSU is deeply rooted in concepts it has some level of sustainability, it discussed in a Hilgardia journal article can persist for a long period of time, written in 1959 by Vernon Stern, Ray and it’s relatively safe in its approach,” Smith, Robert van den Bosch and Giles said. Kenneth Hagen. The article, “The

IPM OKLAHOMA! strategies in- integration of chemical and biological clude multiple approaches to dealing control of the spotted alfalfa aphid: with pests. Anything from sanitizing The integrated control concept,” is living areas to working with natural one of the early published writings promoting the idea of preventative pest management tactics. “All of the concepts that we talk about and use today, like economic thresholds, treatment thresholds, and the ecological science behind IPM, were all developed with this journal ANYTHING WE CAN article, and we have just run with it DO TO CUT DOWN ON ever since,” Royer said. IPM OKLAHOMA! gains most of SPRAYS IS WHAT WE its financial support from the U.S. Department of Agriculture through ARE GOING TO DO AS the National Institute of Food and Agriculture Crop Protection and Pest FAR AS CHEMICALS GO. Management Program’s Extension KELLY SEUHS Implementation Program. “Today, it’s a competitive grant program, but originally it was not competitive,” Royer said. “It was just formula funding, where your program would get a specific amount of money each year.” IPM OKLAHOMA! switched from formula funding to a competitive grant program in 2009. Royer said every three years he must write and submit a proposal to NIFA for program funding. “It’s been continuously funded here since probably 1976,” Royer said. As a program, IPM OKLAHOMA! is persistently funded because the need for strategic pest management is unabating, Royer added. Charles Luper, entomology and plant pathology extension associate,

As part of IPM OKLAHOMA!, Tom Royer searches for brown wheat mites in a wheat field near Stillwater. Photo by Dalee Barrick.

said IPM OKLAHOMA! helped him take better care of his specialty crops, like peanuts.

“We used to spray our peanuts for leaf spot disease, and that was on a calendar basis every two weeks,” Luper said. “Now, with the Oklahoma Mesonet system — an IPM tool that accounts for weather data — we can base our spraying off of actual scientific data.”

Luper said the Mesonet system was created in 1994 by OSU and the University of Oklahoma. Oklahoma Mesonet is a network of environmental monitoring stations with each Oklahoma county having at least one Mesonet station.

Farmers and ranchers can utilize this free IPM tool for better agricultural practices, Luper added.

Kelly Seuhs, OSU Extension associate specialist in entomology and plant pathology, said IPM practices can be as simple as a spring harrowing.

“If there is alfalfa weevil egg deposition in the fall or winter, these eggs are located in plant stems,” Seuhs said. “Some growers incorporate a light harrowing before spring to dislodge the eggs from the stems.

“This strategy can prolong weevil activity well into the spring, possibly eliminating the need for multiple applications of pesticides,” he added.

IPM OKLAHOMA! is not meant to eliminate the use of insecticides, Seuhs said, but the program can help Oklahomans utilize non-chemical strategies for insect control.

“IPM is not a one-size-fits-all approach, but we do anything we can to cut down on unneeded sprays,” Seuhs said. “Anything we can implement to reduce costs and is economically viable and sustainable, we’re going to do.”

IPM OKLAHOMA! can be customized to a producer’s liking, Giles said, and it often alleviates some farm financial stress.

“The return on investment has been significant as far as unbiased information to producers that they get to make the choices based on data and information from Oklahoma,” he said.

Oklahomans have access not only to data and information but also to the instructors of the program.

“We have fact sheets and conduct face-to-face meetings,” Royer said. “If a person wants to call, I’m always willing to help.”

Oklahomans looking for more information about IPM OKLHOMA! can visit extension.okstate.edu/programs/ integrated-pest-management/ as well as call Royer at 405-744-9406 or email him at tom.royer@okstate.edu.

DALEE BARRICK