Michigan wine grape vineyard establishment conference

A brief introduction to pests and

pest management
Diane Brown, Michigan State
University Extension
 What is a pest?
• Any organism that is
detrimental to humans
– destroys crops & structures
– poses threats to human health
and livestock
– reduces aesthetic and
recreational value

2
 Main categories of pests
insects and mites- Invertebrates (no backbone)
 Several common insect pests of grapes
• Grape berry moth
• Potato leafhoppers
• Japanese beetle
 Main categories of pests
• diseases- caused by Pathogens – living agents
– Fungi
– Bacteria
– Viruses
– Nematodes
– Phytoplasmas
• Disorders-Non-living agents:
– cold, heat, pollutants, chemical injury
 Main categories of pests
• Vertebrates (with a backbone)
– Birds
– Deer
– Raccoons

netting to reduce bird damage

 Main categories of pests
• Weeds – “unwanted plants”
• Grasses
• Broadleaf
• Perennial
• Annual/ biennial
 How to manage?
• Integrated Pest Management (IPM)
• Uses multiple strategies to manage pests and
pest damage
• Examples will be given later
 Steps in IPM
Identify the pest and know its biology
• Monitor and survey for pests
• Set IPM goal: prevent, suppress
• Implement-select control strategies, timing,
• Economics
• Environmental impacts
• Evaluate
 Steps in pest management
• is it really a pest or:
• Just there?
• A beneficial insect?

Texas Forest Service Archive, Texas Forest Service, Bugwood.org

Gerald J. Lenhard, Louisiana State University, Bugwood.org

 Steps in pest management
• Identify the pest and pest damage- critical
• Learn key pests
• Identify lifecycle stages
• Overwintering stage
• Stages causing damage
• Stages that can be controlled
 examples
• Japanese beetle
• Adult is damaging stage on grapes
• Larvae feed underground
on roots of grasses
 examples
• Black rot is a fungus
• Overwinters on mummified fruit
• Spores produced in mummies lands on
leaves
• Spores produced on leaves land on fruit
 Pest Identification is Critical
• Use books, extension
bulletins, field guides,
Web, etc.
• Have pests examined
by specialists
– Handle samples carefully
 Steps in IPM
• Identify the pest and know its biology
Monitor and survey for pests
• Set IPM goal: prevent, suppress
• Implement-select control strategies, timing,
Economics
• Environmental impacts
• Evaluate
 Steps in pest management
Monitoring
• when is the pest likely to appear?
• May be tied to particular stage of plant
development
• May be related to weather or environment
 Monitor the Pest
• Use scouting, trapping, weather data, models
• Enviroweather website-
http://www.enviroweather.msu.edu/
 Steps in IPM
• Identify the pest and know its biology
• Monitor and survey for pests
Set IPM goal: prevent, suppress
• Implement-select control strategies, timing
• Economics
• Environmental impacts
• Evaluate
 What is your goal for integrated
pest management?
• Prevent
• Suppress
 Components of IPM-Monitor the Pest
• Action threshold: unacceptable pest level –
do something
• Sometimes the action threshold may be
zero!
• Action thresholds vary by pest, site, and
season
• Economic Threshold- control
needed to prevent economic

Pest Population
injury
• Economic Injury Level
– $ of losses =
$ of control measures
– Apply control measure prior
to reaching economic injury 0 Time
level
 Develop the IPM Goal
• Prevention: examples, resistant plants,
sanitation, exclusion, pesticide treatments
• Suppression=reduction: cultivation, biological
control, pesticides
 Steps in IPM
• Identify the pest and know its biology
• Monitor and survey for pests
• Set IPM goal: prevent, suppress
 Implement
– Select control strategies
– Timing
• Economics
• Environmental impacts
• Evaluate
 Implement the IPM Program
• Make sure you have taken initial steps
– Identification and monitoring
– Set action thresholds
– Know what control strategies will work
• Select effective and least harmful methods
 pest management tactics
• Mechanical: Cultivation
• Disrupt soil conditions for weeds and insects
– Hoes, Plows, Disks
• Control growth or destroy plants
– Mowers
 Mechanical: Trapping
• Use of mechanical or sticky device
• Captures pests in a holding device
• Restrains or kills the pest
 Mechanical: Exclusion
• Netting to exclude birds
• Fencing to keep out deer
Physical controls- alter the environment
Examples for black rot
• Open canopies to reduce humidity and leaf
wetness
• Plant rows in direction of prevailing winds
 Cultural control: sanitation
• Sanitation: eliminate food, water, and shelter
• destroy infected crop residues or infected
plant materials
• Destroy weeds to reduce pest refuges
 Cultural controls- alter
conditions or pest behavior
• Examples for black rot
• Plant resistant or less susceptible varieties
• Prune out dead canes and mummies
• Remove fruit mummies from the ground
 Biological controls

• Natural enemies
• Any organism that reduces
the numbers of another.
Texas Forest Service Archive, Texas Forest Service, Bugwood.org

Lacewing larva
 Biological Control in the vineyard
• Conservation and Enhancement
Manipulating habitat and resources to
conserve or enhance NE numbers.
• Augmentation-Releasing NE’s to boost
population.
 Predators and Parasitoids
• Predators
Mainly insects
Kill and consume prey

• Parasitoids
Live in/on host
Kill host

Russ Ottens, University Winston Beck, Iowa State

of Georgia, bugwood.org University, bugwood.org
 Pathogens
• Bacteria, fungi, protozoa, nematodes and
viruses- naturally occurring or commercial
• B.t.- Bacillus thuriengensis, a biological
insecticide used to kill moth larvae
• Grandevo, a microbial insecticide
• Beauvaria bassiana (fungus)- Naturalis,
Botanigard
 Summary
• Biological Control can be effective.
• BUT-Requires careful planning and knowledge.
• MONITORING!
• Integrating pest management methods to
reduce chemical use and conserve natural
enemies.
 Chemical controls
• Pesticide
• any material that
is applied to kill,
attract, repel, or
regulate pests
 Considerations for Pesticide Use
• Identify the pest and select
the appropriate product
• Avoid developing resistant
pest populations
• If using pesticides, use the
correct application rate and
timing
 Pesticide Classification
• General Use
– normally lower toxicity
– no special certification or permits required
• Restricted Use (RUP):
– may cause adverse effects to human health or the
environment
– sold only to certified applicators
 “The label is the law”
• The site must be stated on the label
• The target pest does not need to be listed
• Any application method may be used, unless
prohibited by the label
 “The label is the law”
• Applications may be made at a rate less than
that stated on the label, not more!
• Tank mixtures are OK, unless the label says
otherwise
 Pesticide terms
• Mode of action: how it works to control the pest
• Systemic pesticides-absorbed through tissues and
transported elsewhere where the pest encounters it
• Contact pesticides must come in direct contact with
the target pest
 Pesticide Resistance:
the ability of a pest to tolerate a
pesticide that once controlled it
 Pesticide Resistance:
Intensive pesticide use- kills susceptible
pests in a population, leaves resistant
ones to reproduce
Pesticide Resistance:
• Use of similar modes of action
• Frequency of applications
• Persistence of the chemical
• Pest rate of reproduction &
offspring numbers
 Pesticides vary by selectivity
• Non-selective – kills all related pests – for
example some herbicides kill all green plants
that gets a sufficient dose
• Selective – kills only certain weeds, insects,
plant pathogens – for example other
herbicides only kill broadleaf weeds not
grasses
 Pesticides vary by persistence:
• how long they remain active in the
environment
• Residual pesticides – remain active for weeks,
months, years
• Non-residual – inactivated immediately or
within a few days
 Considerations for integrating
chemical and biological control
• Use selective insecticides
• Low residual toxicity
• Biopesticides
• Application Timings
• Natural enemy refuges
 IPM in the vineyard
• Regardless of the methods chosen,
remember:
• Identify the pest and know its biology
• Monitor and survey for pests
• Set IPM goal: prevent, suppress
 IPM in the vineyard
• Consider the economics- action thresholds
• Environmental impacts- what else are you
impacting
 Record and Evaluate Results
• what worked; what did not
• May take time to see results
• Might be ineffective or
damaging to target crop,
beneficial insects, etc.
• Use what you learned for
future pest management
planning