Integrated Pest Management

IPM Manual for Landscape Pests in British Columbia

Chapter 2: Moving from Theory to Practice

Learning Objectives

When you have completed this lesson, you should be able to:

Outline seven steps in developing an IPM program for a landscape.
Set practical objectives for an IPM program.
Describe the purpose of categorizing sites according to maintenance levels and describe a three-category classification system.
Describe five types of background site information useful in developing an IPM program.
Describe four types of information to record in a site assessment.
Describe how to analyze site assessment information and apply it to developing an IPM program tailored to the site.

Introduction

How do you get from a textbook description of IPM to applying the practices in your own work? The aim of this chapter is to bridge this gap by describing practical steps for developing an IPM program. Most of this information should be useful for anyone involved in managing landscape pests, whether they are new to the IPM approach or are looking for ways to improve an existing IPM program. Suggestions for managers of service companies or agency departments are also included in a section at the end of the chapter.

Developing a Landscape IPM Program

The following seven general steps include tips from landscape professionals who have worked out ways to apply IPM methods in their practice. Not all of these steps will apply in every case, of course, so use what makes the most sense in your situation.

1. Set Realistic Objectives

Trying to make a lot of changes at once is hard to do successfully, and it is discouraging if things don´t go well. So, start with manageable goals and well defined objectives. Write them down. For example, you could start by choosing to work on:

one site, a small part of a large site or a limited number of smaller sites, or
site(s) with the fewest pest problems (e.g., start with a landscape of only turf and trees rather than one with turf, trees, shrubs, perennial borders and display beds), or
key pests or key plants (e.g., concentrate on managing weeds in turf, or aphids in boulevard trees)

Where to start depends on the types of plantings and pest problems being managed, as well as what type of agency or business is involved. For landscape services with residential clients, an excellent way to get started is to work with a few customers who are interested in IPM. To find these people, you can ask for volunteers (e.g., by personally talking to clients, by putting a note in with monthly account statements or in a company newsletter). A good time to involve clients is early in the season when they are beginning to make plans for their landscapes. You can learn a lot by working closely with these clients, keeping them informed and asking for their feedback as you go. As you gain experience, you will develop the skills and confidence to apply IPM to more accounts.

For landscape managers operating under the direction of a municipality, school board, or other agency, the following methods of categorizing sites may help in deciding where to start.

2. Categorize the Sites

A good way to set priorities for an IPM program is to divide landscape sites (or parts of large sites) into categories according to the level of maintenance they require. This makes it easier to see where to concentrate efforts and helps with decisions about managing pests. Injury levels, for example, will vary with the purpose and visibility of the site. The amount of money and time worth spending on treatments also varies with the type of site. High profile sites usually need the most resources for monitoring and pest management. In contrast, there may be no need to monitor or manage pests in some low profile sites.

A simple system recommended by BC Environment, and used widely in municipal landscapes, divides sites into three categories. These are:

Class A — High level of service: These are high value, high visibility or high maintenance sites, such as formal display beds in parks or residential yards, fine lawns, golf and bowling greens, hanging baskets, botanical gardens, plant nurseries and conservatories.
Class B — Moderate level of service: These are medium visibility or moderate maintenance sites, such as boulevards and medians, general park and playground areas, residential backyards and perennial borders in parks.
Class C — Low level of service: These include low profile or low maintenance sites, such as nature parks and recreational areas, picnic areas, hiking trails, works yards and industrial sites.

This classification system is used throughout this manual in the chapters on managing specific types of pest and sites. Other ways to classify sites could be used, including the six landscape maintenance levels described in detail in the British Columbia Landscape Standard (see Further Reading at the end of this chapter) if they are more suited to your situation.

3. Assemble Background Site Information

The more background information you have about a landscape, the better your IPM plan will be. Background information on a site includes historical information, expected pest problems, treatments available, resources available and regulatory requirements that may apply.

a) Collect historical information, including:

notes, observations and other written records of weather, site conditions, pest problems, plantings, fertilizing schedules, etc.
spray records and other treatment records from previous years
account records that might show what work was done
knowledge staff may have in their heads, but haven't written down (hold an informal brainstorming session to get this information down on paper)

Ideally, this information is available and only needs to be organizedin reality, however, records may be scarce. For newly established sites, records will not exist; in this case, past experience with similar landscapes in the region could be used as a guide. Extension publications on pests of the region are also useful references for what to expect. For new clients, arranging a meeting to discuss problem areas in the landscape may provide helpful background information.

b) Find out about pests likely to be problems and collect information on:

life cycles and biology
range of host plants that may be affected
conditions that favour the pests
conditions that prevent pest development
natural enemies of the pests

Note: Suggested references are included under Further Reading at the end of each chapter.

c) Research the range of treatments available, including:

which pests they are effective against, and, in the case of pesticides, which pests and locations of use they are registered for
mode of action and how well they are expected to work
factors that would limit use to specific times or places, such as temperature, relative humidity,
moisture conditions, life stage of the pest affected, toxicity
cost and availability from suppliers

d) Make an inventory of the resources available for the IPM program, including:

financial budget, for labour, supplies, travel, new tools, capital items and training
people, in terms of time available and their skills, interests and qualifications
supplies, tools and equipment on hand

e) Research regulatory requirements and guidelines that apply, including:

provincial regulations regarding pesticide use. These are spelled out in the Integrated Pest Management Act and Regulation. See the Handbook for Pesticide Applicators and Dispensers for information on all legislation in British Columbia relating to pesticide use, handling and disposal
municipal bylaws, which may specify pesticides that may or may not be used, or require posting or notification of pesticide applications. Water use restrictions may also be in place, which will affect management plans for landscapes
local school board, hospital board or other agency policies on pesticide use or pest management methods that may be used

4. Conduct a Site Assessment

A site assessment is a systematic inspection to collect current, site-specific information. Much of this information will be easy to read and analyze if it is entered on a map, therefore, making a scale map of each site is highly recommended. Producing site maps involves some extra work at the beginning, but it is a tool that will be useful for many years. The site map can be as simple as a hand drawn sketch kept in a binder —or as sophisticated as a computerized map with links to electronic files about the site. Software packages for mapping and designing landscapes are available from software dealers.

The types of information to record in making a site assessment include:

a) Physical characteristics:

Record soil conditions, such as type (sandy, loamy, clay), depth and drainage; take soil tests to determine pH, fertility, organic matter content, cation exchange capacity (a measure of nutrient availability).
Describe micro-climate conditions. Within the overall climate of a region there are micro-climates of temperature, exposure to sun, wind, shade, frost patterns and air circulation that can make a large difference to the health of plants.

b) Plant inventory:

Identify the species of plants in the landscape and also the cultivars, if possible, as cultivars can vary widely in growth habit, management and susceptibility to pests.
Record the locations and plant names on the site map.
Inspect each plant and note whether is it healthy, has pest problems, shows signs of nutrient deficiency, has growth abnormalities or needs pruning. Since the basis of an IPM program is prevention by growing healthy plants, this assessment of plant health is essential information.

c) Use patterns:

Note who uses the site and for what purpose. This will be useful in developing injury levels and selecting the most suitable treatments.

A large municipal park usually contains several areas with differing purposes and users — from picnic areas to playing fields to display gardens. Even within small, residential Butterfly landscapes there may also be differences in use and purpose. For example, appearance may be most important in the front yard, whereas, safety for children at play might be most important in the backyard. In an IPM program, these differences would translate into differences in treatment thresholds and treatments.

d) Environmental concerns:

No landscape exists in isolation from the rest of the environment. How a landscape is managed can affect much more than the immediate users. In the site assessment, look for conditions that should be taken into consideration, such as:

potential for runoff that might erode soil or carry pesticides and fertilizers into water bodies, ditches or storm drains
use by wildlife, such as birds, mammals, butterflies, and others
impact on neighbouring properties, as a result of changes to the landscape design or the type of treatments used

This information is also useful in setting treatment thresholds and choosing treatments.

5. Analyze the Site Assessment Information

Compacted and bare turf There are several places to start analyzing this information. Areas of little concern will likely be obvious, as will plants or areas that are especially important. The following are some ideas of things to look for that will help in drafting an IPM program:

Identify key plants in the landscape. These are plants that play more important roles than others in the appearance, design or use of the landscape. For example, turfgrass is obviously a key plant in a park with a playing field; other examples might be specimen plants in a residential yard, ground cover plants stabilizing a steep bank or trees along a boulevard.
Look for opportunities to replace problem plants. Notes on plant health and past history of pests may highlight plants that could be replaced (or moved to more suitable conditions), either now or in the future. For example, if only one or two plants in a border have problems, perhaps they can be replaced with trouble-free plants.
Look for opportunities to make changes to the site design or facilities that would reduce long-term cost of managing pests. For example, where people continually wear a path through a section of turf, it leaves bare patches open to invasion by weeds. This could be addressed by installing a permanent barrier to stop the foot traffic or by laying a pathway with a durable surface.
Identify pest problems (i.e., broadleaf weeds or red thread disease in turf) that can be managed by improving the cultural conditions.

6. Draft a Site Specific IPM Program

General IPM programs for the most common types of sites and pest problems in BC landscapes are outlined in Chapters 4 to 10 of this manual (other useful references are listed at the end of the chapter). Using these as a guide, along with the background information and site assessment information, work through the steps of an IPM program described in Chapter 1. Look at this as a flexible, working plan, which will be changed and improved over time.

Here are some suggestions from IPM professionals to help you get started.

Identification

Establish a policy that ensures every pest or plant injury problem is recorded and that no treatment action is taken until the problem has been identified.
Start an identification collection and continue to add specimens over time. This might include a photograph collection as well as actual specimens of insects and pressed weeds. If possible, keep duplicate specimens or a photographs of any samples you send to professional identification services; that way you have your own correctly identified specimen for your collection.
Start a reference library that can be used to look up information about pests, plant health care, treatments and controls. Collect reference books, journals, pamphlets; set up information binders or files of reprints, magazine articles and other notes.

Monitoring

With a knowledge of the expected pests on the site and the key plants, draft a monitoring program for pests on those plants, taking into account the time of year that the pest problem is expected.
Choose a monitoring method and draw up a record sheet so that it is easy for the person doing the monitoring to record results (see Appendix II for examples). While all the basic information should be recorded, don´t make the record sheet too complicated — if it is hard to use, mistakes will be made or the information may not be entered at all.
Set up a filing or record management system so that information on each site is easy to find and use. This would include site maps, monitoring records, injury thresholds and treatment information for each site.

Note: A table of insect monitoring methods and timetables is included in the current Nursery & Landscape Pest Management and Production Guide (see Further Reading at the end of this chapter).

Action Decisions

Taking into account the objectives, users, and category of each site, set injury levels or thresholds for the pest population. To start with, these may simply be a best guess, based on experience or on information in publications (for suggestions, see each section on Action Decisions in Chapters 4 to 10). You may also carry out practical research of your own to work out injury levels, such as for acceptable percentage of weed cover in turf (described in Chapter 5). The injury levels should be revisited regularly (usually annually) to fine-tune them in light of experience. When treatments are decided upon, use information about how the treatment works to decide when it will be used and set action levels (treatment thresholds).

Treatments

Establish a policy on preferred treatments — what will be used and in which cases — and make sure everyone involved is aware of it. For example, list acceptable pesticides and methods of application and post the list where it is easy to see
If you do not have the preferred products in stock, make sure you know where to get them and pre- order, if necessary. This means you can act immediately if monitoring shows that action levels for treatment have been reached. It also makes sure that the intended product will be used, rather than something else that happens to be on hand. For biological controls, contact suppliers well beforehand, to find out about availability, recommendations on use and shipping arrangements.
Order special tools, such as pheromone traps or head-band magnifying lenses; locate and buy equipment, such as flamers or infra-red weeders, special pesticide applicators, bait stations.
Establish a schedule for evaluating the effects of treatments.
After the busy season is over, schedule an IPM review to evaluate the results of your efforts and plan for next year´s improvements. Include monitoring records, financial accounts and feedback from staff as well as clients or site users.

7. Revise the IPM Program

Revisit your objectives and, as you gain experience and confidence, widen the scope of your IPM program to include more sites, other pests and additional techniques. With each year of experience you will be able to:

improve monitoring methods and record sheets
refine injury and action thresholds
identify equipment you need to modify or purchase
determine and act on staff training needs

Manage for Success

To organize successful IPM program in a company or agency with a number of employees, it is important to manage people so that they have the time, skills and resources to do the job well. Suggestions for managers include:

Make a commitment to the IPM project by making sure someone is specifically in charge of seeing that planned IPM work gets done.
Involve all staff so that they know who has what responsibilities, where to find information, etc. Keeping everyone informed, including "front office" staff, helps them in their dealing with clients and the public.
Allow enough time for staff to do the monitoring and keep records, perhaps by setting aside specific time for monitoring. Monitoring may not get done if staff are expected to add it onto other work without allowing for extra time to do it. Allow for the fact that monitoring usually takes longer at first. It will take less time as people become more skilled and the monitoring program is refined with experience.
Make sure that staff are trained and know how to perform the work, whether it is monitoring, keeping records or using new treatment methods.
Invest in reference materials, subscriptions to IPM publications and professional publications for use by staff (suggested basic references are listed under Further Reading at the end of each chapter of this manual).

Educate and Communicate

An essential part of putting it all together is communication. Although good communication between staff and with clients or site users is always desirable, it is particularly important when making changes to the way you do things. Although IPM methods are well established among landscape professionals in BC, it can still feel risky to someone trying to adopt IPM methods for the first time. So get to know other landscape professionals and learn from them. Involve your staff or your co-workers in the whole project and take advantage of their interest and enthusiasm to make it work. Let your clients or site users know what you are trying to do.

Above all, don't forget to promote your success! Whether it is through a newsletter to your clients or a public brochure for municipal park users, let people know about your IPM practices. As a result of such promotion, companies often receive favorable coverage in the local press —a great way to boost business.