Sustainable Slug Control for Vegetable Growers and Gardeners on Rota, Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands

View the project final report

Commodities

• Additional Plants: ornamentals

Practices

• Education and Training: extension
• Pest Management: biological control, eradication, field monitoring/scouting

Slug populations have surged on the island of Rota in the Northern Marianas, threatening both crops and people. The slugs cause extensive damage to yards, ornamental products and commercial and garden vegetables. And they carry diseases transmitted to humans through the slime left on fresh vegetables. The chemicals used to control these pests deteriorate rapidly and sometimes are unavailable. In his Western SARE project, Francisco Calvo plans to test a new product called Nemaslug, a biological control method that uses parasitic nematodes. Calvo, an advocate of integrated pest management, will design a series of field plots with a variety of vegetables on which Nemaslug will be applied after transplanting. Should the product prove effective, Calvo hopes to demonstrate its use to producers in the Northern Mariana Islands and throughout the Pacific.