The purpose of this document is to consolidate current Ohio information on integrated approaches to pest management. One of the intended results is to form a general working definition (practices) of Integrated Pest Management (IPM) on specific crops. Secondly, to develop a system of assessing how far along the IPM continuum growers are, and if their operation has adopted enough core practices to qualify them as IPM practitioners under these guidelines.

Growers should use this document and its six sub headings (Educational, Pre-plant, At-plant, In-season, Harvest, & Post-harvest) as a checklist of possible IPM practices. There is a point value associated with every IPM practice; the higher the number the more important the practice. Growers should only count the points of activities they perform on a crop. The goal is to accumulate 80% of the points in each of the six areas and / or 80% of the total points available, which is simply the sum of the scores from each section (comprehensive).

This document is intended to help growers identify areas in their production system that possess strong IPM qualities and also point out areas for improvement. Growers should attempt to incorporate the majority of these specific techniques into their usual production practices, especially in areas where they fall short of the 80% goal.

Major Pests of Tomatoes - Primary concerns are diseases, insects, & weeds

Diseases	Insects	Weeds
Damping off	Tomato fruitworm	Annual grasses
Early blight	Variegated cutworm	Annual broadleaf weeds
Septoria leaf blight	Stink bugs	Perennial weeds
Anthracnose	Hornworms	Yellow nutsedge
Late Blight	Colorado potato beetle
Buckeye fruit rot	Cabbage looper
Botrytis grey mold	Aphids
Bacterial Spot	Grasshoppers & Crickets
Bacterial Speck	Flea beetles
Bacterial Canker

Educational IPM Considerations

Education	Activity	Points
	Join local or state grower associations that handle this commodity.	5
	Attend the Ohio Fruit and Vegetable Growers Congress annually to meet and exchange information with other growers. Attend current pest management informational / research presentations.	10
	Obtain the latest Ohio Vegetable Production Guide and other commodity specific reports / production guides.	10
	Gain access to e-mail or fax for weekly VegNet newsletter updates on disease, insect, and weed development, plus management options during the growing season.	10
	Implement an IPM practice currently not used on your farm on limited acreage and gauge its success.	10
	Research alternative markets that may encourage less pesticide use either through specific use reduction requirements (organic, eco-, IPM labels) or simply by permitting more insect feeding, etc.	10

Marginal adoption					Full adoption
0 pts			44 pts Goal		55 pts

Pre-plant IPM Considerations

Management	Activity	Points
Weed	Practice weed seed exclusion tactics such as high pressure washing machinery shared between farms.	15
	Buy certified seed and weed free soil mixtures; determine weed seed content of all seed and do not plant seed contaminated with weed seed not known to occur on your farm.	15
	Use site free of perennials such as quack grass, Johnson grass, Yellow nutsedge, or Canada thistle if possible.	15
	Use a combination of fall/spring tillage and fall/spring application of a broad spectrum herbicide to control established perennials or rotate with a herbicide resistant crop on which a broad spectrum herbicide was used.	15
	Apply pre-plant herbicides to control seedling broad leaf weeds and annual grasses if necessary.	10
	Use stale seed bed technique.	15
	Mulch with opaque plastic film before transplanting	10
Site	Soil test; fertilize as needed to recommended levels. Soil pH should be 6.0 to 6.8.	15
	Choose a site that has good surface drainage. Consider tiling or abandoning perennially wet fields.	15
	Use three-year rotated fields away from potatoes, peppers, and eggplant if possible.	15
	Use fields rotated two years away from peppers, potatoes, or eggplant if possible.	10
	Avoid planting tomato fields near last year's tomato or potato fields to reduce potential CPB infestations.	10
	Maintain accurate records of planting dates, field locations, varieties, fertilizer and spray applications.	15
Disease	Select cultivars with a tolerance or resistance to the prominent viral, fungal, and bacterial diseases in your area.	10
	Buy certified seed to transplant to limit exposure to disease.	10
	Buy commercially fungicide and acid treated seed.	15
	If using transplants, be sure they are certified disease free from inspected fields or greenhouses.	15
	Select transplants grown in isolation from ornamental crops to avoid TSWV.	15
	Raise your own transplants to limit introduction of bacterial and fungal diseases.	10
Equipment	Calibrate sprayer; check flow rates and nozzles for fungicide, herbicide, and insecticide use. Select drift guard nozzles.	15

Marginal adoption					Full adoption
0 pts			212 pts Goal		265 pts

At-planting IPM Considerations

Management	Activity	Points
Fertility	Apply starter fertilizer solution at time of transplant.	15
Weeds	Apply pre-emerge herbicides to control seedling broad leaf weeds and annual grasses if necessary.	10
Insect	Plant trap crop along the edge of a field.	15

Marginal adoption					Full adoption
0 pts			32 pts Goal		40 pts

In-season IPM Considerations

Management	Activity	Points
Disease	Use TOMCAST or BLITECAST (predictive models) for early blight, Anthracnose, Septoria leaf blight, and late blight development forecasts. Helps determine fungicide scheduling.	15
	Scout for late blight during periods of cool, wet weather. If late blight is visually detected, immediately disc surrounding area and apply an appropriate fungicide on a 7 to 10 day schedule until harvest.	10
Insect	Concentrate scouting for CPB at edge of field, treat the trap crop once infested.	15
	Use pheromone traps to complement scouting to detect variegated cutworm and tomato fruitworm, particularly if trap catches exceed 10 variegated cutworm moths per trap per week.	15
	Scout leaves for aphids and whiteflies.	15
	Scout using recommended guidelines for the presence of variegated cutworms, tomato fruitworms, hornworms, stink bugs, stink bug damaged fruit, grasshoppers, and crickets. Apply chemical controls if thresholds are exceeded.	15
Weed	Use cultivation to control weeds if possible.	10
	Control broadleaf weeds, annual and perennial grasses using broadcast, directed, or shielded application of herbicide to control or suppress weeds between rows and after crop establishment.	10
	Update field weed maps, use to make treatment decisions next season.	15
	Watch for weeds that are not common or are new to the field, consider adopting a zero threshold for these weeds and physically remove them in order to prevent seed production.	15

Marginal adoption					Full adoption
0 pts			108 pts Goal		135 pts

Harvest IPM Considerations

Management	Activity	Points
Harvest	Apply ethaphon (1.0 - 4.0 pts / A depending on air temperature and cultivar) to trigger ripening of mature green fruit.	15

Marginal adoption					Full adoption
0 pts			12 pts Goal		15 pts

Post-Harvest IPM Considerations

Management	Activity	Points
Fruit	Avoid bruising or knicking harvested fruit which could predispose it to attack by pathogens.	15
Crop	Evaluate and identify successful practices, incorporate them into next years crop.	10
	Use cover crop mixtures established on raised beds for future tomato production.	5
Weed	Update field weed maps, use to make treatment decisions next season.	15
	Spot spray persistent perennial weeds.	15
	Prepare beds and seed the plant residue mulch in the fall. Be sure to kill the plant residue mulch well in advance of spring transplanting.	15
Site	Plow down residue as soon as possible after harvest to reduce weed residue, fungal inoculum, and insect over wintering locations.	15

Marginal adoption					Full adoption
0 pts			72 pts Goal		90 pts

Comprehensive IPM Score
(Add scores of previous 6 sections)

Marginal adoption					Full adoption
0 pts			480 pts Goal		600 pts

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