Free good bug guide for the garden

Looking for a way to ID those beneficial in your garden? This FREE printable pocket guide is a great tool to do that for you. Downloadable and printable these quick reference cards will be a big help in the garden, keeping gardeners from killing the good guys. A must for organic gardeners! FREE NATURAL ENEMIES GUIDE

IPM celebrates 50 years!

Fifty years ago in October, four pioneering University of California scientists outlined a new way of thinking about pest control, establishing a pest management framework that changed the way the world farms.

Read the rest in California Agriculture magazine "The 50th anniversary of a great idea"

Music For Pest Managment

I have never been a Led Zeppelin fan so it looks like morman crickets and I have something in common. Residents of Tuscarora, Nevada have been playing Led Zeppelin and Rolling Stones tunes to help drive these pesky crickets away. This is a truely a great way to control pests without pesticides. Read more....

Online Training for Retail Employees

The University of California is now offering online training for retail employees on pesticides. It provides a training course for retail and garden center employees and others who advise residents about home and garden pesticides.

IPM Twitter Reports

For all of you in the Pacific North West there is a new way to keep up with pest problems using Twitter. The PNW Nursery IPM report will send out updates via Twitter. All you have to do is have a Twitter account and sign up for the updates. Its FREE and easy !

Utah State University Extension IPM also has set Twitter for an IPM Advisor. It is for tree fruit pest advisory information on codling moth, peach twig borer, and fire blight spray timing.

International IPM Symposium

I have just returned from the The Sixth International IPM Symposium in Portland, OR. It was more focused on agriculture than I would have liked, thought there would be some ornamental stuff but it was educational. I was most-impressed with the information presented by William Snyder of Washington State University. He presented the talk “Spatiotemporally Distinct Natural Enemies Have Synergistic Effects on Shared Prey.”


What Snyder’s team is looking at is when beneficial insects are around pest insects but have not been killed, the pests are more likely to be killed by beneficial fungus or beneficial nematodes. They think the beneficials stress the pest, making them more susceptible to the pathogens.


Also, researchers from the University of Florida stressed for thrips management the importance of conserving native beneficials. They have found that by spraying pesticides for western flower thrips it actually causes more western flower thrips problems in the long run. They said it is better to use spray products that are soft on the beneficials, and to limit those sprays so native beneficials can get to work. They also discussed the many different native species of thrips and how they can outcompete western flower thrips.

Go D'hara