Horticulture Principles and Practices

8.4.6 METHODS OF PESTICIDE APPLICATION
Pesticides may be applied to plants, products, or the growing medium, according to need.
The general ways in which pesticides are used are as follows:
1. Foliar application. Pesticides may be applied to plant foliage in the form of a
liquid or dust (powder).
2. Soil treatment. A soil may be fumigated (by treating with volatile chemicals) to
control nematodes and other soilborne diseases. Sometimes various formulations
including drenches, granules, and dusts may be applied.
3. Seed treatment. Planting materials (e.g., seeds, bulbs, corms, and tubers) may be
treated with a pesticide to control soilborne diseases that cause seed decay or
damping-off of young seedlings.
4. Control of postharvest pests. Fruits may be dipped in dilute solutions of fungitoxic
chemicals to protect them from rotting in storage.
8.5 INTEGRATED PEST MANAGEMENT
Integrated Pest
Management (IPM)
An approach to pest
control that attempts to
use all the best
management methods
available to keep pest
populations below the
economic and/or aesthetic
injury level, with least
damage to life and the
environment.
Integrated pest management (IPM) is a pest-control strategy whose goal is not to eradicate
but to manage a pest such that its population is maintained below that which can cause
economic loss to a production enterprise or aesthetic injury. In this strategy, human health
and the general environment are paramount considerations. By nature, IPM depends on a
broad and interdisciplinary approach to pest control, incorporating various aspects of the
basic control methods (cultural, biological, legislative, and chemical) (Figure 8–3).
8.5.1 GOALS OF IPM
The goals of IPM may be summarized as follows:
1. Improved control of pests. Methods of pest control should be reviewed regularly
so that the best strategy is always used. As scientific knowledge abounds
and technology advances, new and improved alternative measures will become
available. Strategies should draw on the strengths of all of the basic control
methods in a truly interdisciplinary fashion to develop the best control package.
Improvements in control should consider the fact that nature has built-in means
of controlling population growth by the presence of natural enemies of organisms
in the environment. Preference should be given to natural methods of control
over the use of chemicals.
FIGURE 8–3 The components
of an integrated pest management
(IPM) system. (Source:
G. Acquaah, Principles of Crop Production)
Legislative
Cultural
Biological
IPM
Physical
Chemical
252 Chapter 8 Principles and Methods of Disease and Pest Control