A ‘pest’ can be an insect, disease or weed. The sheltered and stable environment found in a CEA/MEA facility is ideal for pests to complete their life cycle and remain a recurring problem. The key to successful pest management is to identify and take measures to correct the pest problem early. An Integrated Pest Management (IPM) approach is recommended. IPM uses many different forms of pest control procedures including physical, biological, cultural and chemical means of preventing, identifying and treating pest problems. The US Environmental Protection Agency has created list of IPM principles. See your local extension agent for more info on IPM in your area.
Nursery and Greenhouse IPM
IPM Guidelines
Prevent
Prevention is the best pest management technique. One of the most common ways for insects to enter a controlled growing environment is to arrive on plants that are moved from one facility to another. The importance of carefully inspecting all new plant material before it enters the facility cannot be overemphasized.
Ventilation inlets to CEA/MEA facility should be screened to prevent insects from entering. Insects can damage plants by feeding on them directly and by serving as the vectors to spread disease.
Do not allow weeds to go to flower outside the facility because flowers can attract a variety of insects. Monitoring can include the use of pheromone-laced traps to quantify insect population.
Yellow sticky cards are another common insect monitoring tool.
Diseased plant/plant parts should be removed to prevent disease from spreading.
If a cutting implement is used to remove a diseased plant part it should be sterilized before it is used on the next plant. A 10% solution of household bleach (sodium hypochlorite) is sufficient for this purpose.
Monitor
A daily or weekly routine of checking for pests should be implemented. It is essential to know what the common pests include for each crop to aid in identification. Most crops (including lettuce, tomato, curcurbit) have illustrated compendiums of common insects and diseases. Once a pest is identified, explore the lifecycle of the pest and determine which stage is currently taking place. (ie. Did it reproduce yet?) This involves monitoring the pest population and taking action when a specific population threshold is reached. IPM guidelines for identifying the action threshold can be found for many crops.
Control
Beneficial insects may be used for pest control both as a method of prevention and once an insect pest has been observed if the population is small. Mechanical control including individual removal of insects by hand or vacuum may be used if insects are large and not overly numerous.
Take careful notes on what the problem was and what action was taken so that patterns may be observed and results can be analyzed.
Pest control in CEA/MEA is difficult because many chemicals approved for field agriculture for fruit and vegetable crops are not approved for greenhouses or high tunnels. A commercial pesticide applicator’s license is required to apply insecticides and fungicides in a CEA/MEA facility. The licensing process is slightly different from state to state and the State Department of Environmental Protection * oversees the licensing process.
*called the Department of Environmental Protection in most states, but for a complete list of state environmental agencies click here.
