Integrated pest management for greenhouse vegetable producers

Integrated pest management for greenhouse vegetable producers

Summary

This report covers both 2015 and 2016 because of delays in getting the project underway.

2015: While doing initial planning for a 2 day workshop – originally the first milestone – we realized that the intended spring timing was not possible. This caused us to discuss further the value of starting with a workshop and the potential for encouraging participation with other types of interaction before the workshop. Unfortunately, we were then out of sync with everyone’s schedules.

2016 In May of 2016, we submitted revised milestones and activities and they were accepted. Jabe Warren left Cornell Cooperative Extension of Tioga County and when Barb Neal was hired to fill the position, she became part of the planning team

A planning conference was held in November 2016, which resulted in:

1. the development and deployment of an emailed survey to Cornell Cooperative Extension CCE educators to determine knowledge and interest in vegetable production in greenhouse/high tunnel (GH/HT) systems.
2. the plan for a series of webinars for CCE educators to be held in early 2017 to cover the primary topics relevant to integrated pest management in vegetable production for GH/HT systems
3. scheduling for a 2-day hands-on workshop in April 2017 for CCE educators

The survey was run in December 2016 (results below).

Objectives/Performance Targets

The objective of this project is to provide training for Extension educators in IPM that is tailored for the production system and specific pests in vegetable production under protected environments (greenhouses and high tunnels). The intent is that this will lead to an increase in the adoption of IPM by growers, with its potential to reduce pesticide use and improve product quality.

Overall performance targets: 20 Extension educators will co-train with growers in greenhouse vegetable IPM to provide grower support; 10 will conduct educational programing for 150 growers; 8 will create an IPM plan with a grower then demonstrate it for 160 growers. Thirty growers will document an increase in IPM in their vegetable greenhouses.

Accomplishments/Milestones

Milestone 1: 80 Cornell Cooperative Educators will learn about the Greenhouse Vegetable IPM training program

We created an on-line survey in Qualtrics to be distributed to CCE educators who cover a broad range of expertise areas. We included the 3 regional Extension teams that cover multiple counties – Eastern NY Commercial Horticulture Program, Capital Area Ag and Hort Team, and the Cornell Vegetable Program – which all include some vegetable specialists. We also included lists of county-based educators who work with commercial and consumer horticulture. In total, the survey was sent to 85 CCE educators (there may have been a few duplications).

With the survey, we sent a description of the project, the planned webinars, and the hands-on workshop.

Intro_survey

We started with the educators in NYS as we have better connections with them and thought they might be more likely to return the surveys. In the future, we will contact educators in neighboring states in the region to determine how we might provide the same information to them.

Milestone 2: 30 Extension educators will return survey on current level of knowledge, desired topics, and regional programming needs

We received 24 responses, including educators from 16 counties and 2 regional teams. They reported a variety of areas of expertise or work – 5 in Consumer Hort, 3 in vegetable crops, 3 in Natural Resources, 2 in ornamentals, 2 in general agriculture or horticulture, and 3 in various areas. Seventy eight % work with GH/HT growers of vegetables (7) or ornamentals (2), or both (9). An additional 6 said they don’t currently work with these growers but are interested in learning more.

The primary topics to be covered in the webinars and as part of creating an IPM plan are: vegetable crops produced in GH/HT, production factors for this type of production, and insect, disease and weed management in GH/HT vegetable production. While 46% of respondents said their knowledge of the crops was medium, the majority rated themselves as having low knowledge of the topics covered by the project:

            Production factors for GH/HT vegetable production      46%

            Insect management in GH?HT vegetable production      54%

            Disease management in GH/HT vegetable production    63%

            Weed management in GH/HT vegetable production        42%

At least 70% indicated each of these topics to be of potential interest to them:

            Basics of light, water, fertility, and media in a GH/HT                        87%

            Vegetable crop production in GH/HT                                                       75%

            Insect management in GH/HT vegetable production                           79%

            Disease management in GH/HT vegetable production                       75%

            Weed management in GH/HT vegetable production                           71%

            Case studies from successful growers                                                       75%

Other things suggested (some of which don’t fit into this project but that we can find resources for) were specialty crops, low tunnels, and business plans.

We asked what other information they felt they would need to be successful in assisting growers with pest management issues in GH/HT vegetable production. Their answers included: cover crops, pesticides labeled for use on edible crops in GH/HT and efficacy data, a definition of GH/HT in respect to pesticide use, fertigation basics, water management, economics – when is it worth it, other crops – small fruits, figs, ginger, and understanding differences in production under the different environments of field and GH/HT.

We asked for estimates of the number of GH/HT vegetable growers in their county or region, in order to determine if it would be likely they would have a grower to work with. Realizing that counties and regions vary dramatically in size and that those not already working in this area might not know the answer, the most common estimate was 2-10. The primary crops grown were (in order of frequency of mention and with the same caveats) tomatoes, cucumbers, greens, peppers, berries, brassicas, herbs, and vegetable transplants.

Ninety-two% were definitely or possibly interested in participating in webinars. All were definitely or possibly interested in the hands-on training. Seventy-eight % might have a grower to participate with them.

Impacts and Contributions/Outcomes

While we have not yet done enough to have an impact, the results of the survey indicate that there is sufficient interest, and potential for time commitment, in this project to suggest positive impacts in the future.

Collaborators: