In 1995 approximately 300 growers began producing fresh vegetables for commercial wholesale markets in the greater Holmes County area. The majority of the products were marketed at a wholesale produce auction held three times weekly in the Mt. Hope area. It was assumed at the start of the program that a majority of new growers would have small acreages and the growers would be unwilling to pay the cost for traditional IPM services.
In 1995, the Holmes County Officer of OSU Extension developed and conducted two IPM programs. One was the traditional "weekly scout" program; the other was a "scout your own with assistance." Twelve growers enrolled in the "scout your own" program comprising 21 acres of produce. To support the growers, six biweekly seminars were held and each enrollee received a notebook of fact sheets and record sheets to facilitate their efforts. Sixteen growers enrolled in the traditional scouting program with 37 acres of produce enrolled.
The scouting program was augmented by a network of insect traps (see table) from which weekly counts of key pest activity were collected, recorded and disseminated to growers to facilitate pest management decisions.
| Pest Monitored | Trap Employed | Crop Station Habitat | No. Stations |
|---|---|---|---|
| European corn borer | Heliothis trap | Sweet corn & peppers | 10 |
| Corn earworm | Heliothis trap | Sweet corn plantings | 6 |
| Variegated cutworm | Sticky wing trap | Tomato plantings | 6 |
| Misc. flying pests | Yellow sticky traps | Vegetable crop habitats | 120 |
| Note: Heliothis and wing traps were baited with specific pheromone lures. | |||
Program Implementation and Conclusions:
Three facts became apparent; first, growers are reluctant to pay for scouting (regardless of how
cheaply the service is provided). Second, growers would rather rely on a scout rather than
conduct the scouting for themselves. Trapping is a valuable tool to help make pest management
decisions, especially for corn borer and corn earthworm. Growers who used heliothis catch data
to time European corn borer sprays were able to drop at least two sprays from their program (as
compared to growers who sprayed by a calendar method). There were no reports (in 1995)
where growers had poor results from using trap counts to schedule spray applications for control
of European Corn Borer on peppers. Continued use of traps and making greater effort to
publicize trap data seems to be a viable program option.
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