Sustainable use of low-risk and organic pesticides through innovative integration of plasma activated water in greenhouse crop production

Commodities

• Vegetables: beans, tomatoes
• Additional Plants: ornamentals

Practices

• Crop Production: greenhouses, nurseries, nutrient management
• Education and Training: demonstration, display, extension, networking, on-farm/ranch research, participatory research, workshop
• Pest Management: biological control, biorational pesticides, botanical pesticides, cultivation, cultural control, integrated pest management, physical control
• Production Systems: organic agriculture, transitioning to organic

Compared to conventional synthetic pesticides, use of low-risk and organically certified pesticides (L-R & OCPs) in greenhouse crop production systems is hampered by comparatively slow and inconsistent performance and short residual effect. Accordingly, a higher number of applications is needed to achieve pest control, which leads to increase in costs of pest management and higher use of pesticides. To promote adoption of L-R & OCPs in greenhouse crop production systems, it is of paramount importance to develop solutions and educate growers about ways to optimize their performance and residual effects. The hypothesis of this 3-year project is that L-R & OCPs for use in greenhouse crop production systems can be made significantly more effective and lead to significantly better management of spider mites and western flower thrips when deployed in concert with plasma activated water (PAW). This hypothesis will be addressed based on the following five project objectives:

Objective 1: Experimental optimization of PAW

Objective 2: Experimental integration of PAW and L-R & OCPs

Objective 3: Testing in greenhouses

Objective 4: Educational outreach

Objective 5: Academic capacity building

These objectives are linked to seven project outcomes: 1) research publications, 2) trade journal publications, 3) conference presentations, 4) project-specific website pages, 5) demonstration videos, 6) adoption metrics, and 7) academic course curriculum. This project is predicted to demonstrate important environmental and social benefits, as it will lower the adoption threshold for use of L-R & OCPs in greenhouse crop production systems by showing that their integration with PAW can significantly increase their ability to control key pest populations. This proposal is well-supported by preliminary data and by the greenhouse crop production industry. This proposal includes comprehensive educational and academic capacity building, and it will promote technological innovation and science-based careers for aspiring young scientists with interest in sustainable agriculture. Moreover, the project team will create project specific pages with videos, weblinks, photos, and pdf documents on PI Nansen’s website (http://chrnansen.wix.com/nansen2). Most materials posted will be translated into Spanish. Web pages will be linked directly to extension outlets managed by relevant stakeholder organizations, including: Plant California Alliance, the Northeast Organic Farming Alliance Greenhouse Lighting and Systems Engineering consortium, and California Tomato Research Institute.

Objective 1: Experimental optimization of PAW (plasma activated water)
Objective 2: Experimental integration of PAW and L-R & OCPs (low-risk and organically certified pesticides)
Objective 3: Testing in greenhouses
Objective 4: Educational outreach
Objective 5: Academic capacity building These objectives are linked to seven project outcomes: 1) research publications, 2) trade journal publications, 3) conference presentations, 4) project-specific website pages, 5) demonstration videos, 6) adoption metrics, and 7) academic course curriculum. This project is predicted to demonstrate important environmental and social benefits, as it will lower the adoption threshold for use of L-R & OCPs in greenhouse crop production systems by showing that their integration with PAW can significantly increase their ability to control key pest populations. This proposal is well-supported by preliminary data and by the greenhouse crop production industry. Additionally, the project team already has trained personnel and a fully operational cold plasma system (worth >$80,000), which constitutes highly unique and significant in-kind contribution to this project.