Integrated Pest Management (IPM) is our insect and disease management program. With IPM, an arborist monitors, correctly treats, keeps records and evaluates your trees year-round. IPM is designed to always keep your trees happy and healthy.
What is Integrated Pest Management?
IPM uses various management strategies to best care for your trees, and was designed as a healthier alternative to managing pests and diseases. While the program doesn’t rule out the use of chemical pesticides, it saves them for when they are truly needed. It is our belief that using smart cultural practices can decrease our dependence on chemicals while increasing plant vigor.
The goal of IPM is to:
• Effectively manage pests
• Maintain desired plant health and appearance
• Protect beneficial organisms
• Minimize risk to the environment and others
Why not use chemical pesticides?
In the past, traditional practices have dictated reaching for the chemical “cure” whenever a pest presents itself. Old spraying techniques included applying chemicals on a calendar basis regardless of pest activity. Understanding a pest’s life cycle and habits allows us to create a better plan that leads to healthier plants. To do this we must assimilate a great deal of information and use it effectively.
How does IPM work?
The basic steps of our IPM program are as follows:
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- Identification: We become familiar with the biological and site needs of your plant material and strive to meet those needs. This includes knowing what is “normal” for any particular plant.
- Pests: Virtually every plant has at least one pest (insect, disease, etc.) capable of inflicting great harm. Our highly trained arborists are familiar with these key pests, their appearance in different stages, and their exact life cycle.
- Incidentals: Countless insects can be found on a plant at any time. However, only a tiny percentage of those actually pose a threat to the plant.
- Monitoring: Through skilled observation, we can determine what pests are active, their exact life stage, and if treatment is necessary.
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Is IPM cost effective?
Your trees are a valuable investment, increasing property values up to 20%. IPM reduces the risk of losing your investments. The cost of replacement or potential injury far exceeds the cost of management.
Correct Timing and Treatment
Various treatments have different modes of action that may only work on certain pests, or on specific life stages.
Record keeping
We maintain extensive records of all aspects in plant management. These include: weather data, times of management applications, amounts, life stage present, pH of tank mix water, plant species involved and much more.
Evaluation
We are constantly reviewing our records and results to streamline and improve our methods. Let us know if you have a suggestion!