A32-Lancaster harming, Saturday, December 14, 2002 Benefits Of Sweet Corn IPM Valued In The Millions UNIVERSITY PARK (Centre Co.) In just one year, Pennsyl vania vegetable growers realized more than $l3 million in eco nomic and environmental bene fits by using integrated pest man agement tactics in their sweet corn crops, a recent stnd\ esti mates. Integrated pest management, among the top ten nationally in or IPM. aims to manage pests sweet corn production. But this such as insects, diseases, weeds $25 million crop is at risk to such and animals by combining devastating pests as the corn ear physical, biological and chemical worm, fall armyworm and Euro tactics that are safe, profitable pean corn borer, and environmentally compatible. As part of the project, Beddow The study, conducted by Jason surveyed sweet corn growers to Beddow, a graduate student at collect data on the growers’ use Virginia Polytechnic Institute of selected production practices, and State University, found that with an emphasis on pesticide IPM in Pennsylvania sweet corn use. crops produced economic bene- Respondents included both fits of about $6.7 million and en- large and small farms, ranging in vironmental benefits valued at size from 2.5 to 2,500 acies. The about $6.8 million in one growing results of the survey indicate that son season. the majority of respondents use According to Beddow, the “This research makes it clear several IPM tactics in their sweet adoption of IPM practices that IPM provides significant corn operation. Ninety-two per- ma y resu | t * n a combination economic and environmental cent of respondents reported ro- °f cost increases and de benefits to the state," said Ed Ra- tating at least some of their sweet creases. For example, IPM jotte, Pennsylvania IPM coordi- corn with other crops, while 77 adoption is expected to de nator and Penn State professor of percent and 91 percent, respec- crease the cost of chemical entomology, who served on Bed- lively, said they scouted for in- pesticides as non-chemical dow’s advisory committee. sects and weeds before deciding controls are substituted for The study was designed to help to apply insecticides and post- pesticides. However, imple develop a uniform set of tech- emergent herbicides. mentation of IPM practices Plant Germplasm Center Steadily Builds Collection COLUMBUS, Ohio The Ohio State Univer sity Ornamental Plant Germplasm Center has come a long way since its grand opening a little more than a year ago. The center, whose main purpose is to save, as sess and promote the use of ornamental plant germplasm for industry and researcher use, is home to ovei 1,100 accessions from 62 genera, and the list continues to grow. “Our primary function is to conserve, evaluate and distribute germplasm that would be impor tant to the researcher or to the industry," said David lav. director ol the Oi namenta! Plant tieimplasm renter. “It all goes back to conserving a plant spe cies because you don't know where (he next cure for cancer will come from. We need to take advantage of plants that have traits like disease resistance, stress tolerance, or carry pharmaceutical and neutraceutical compounds." Germplasm is cur rently being collected from the following pri ority genera: Aglaone ma, Alstroemeria, An thurium, Aq - uilegia. Aster, Baptis ta. Begonia, Campanu la, Chrysanthemum, Dianthus, Dieffenha cha, E u - phorbia. Geranium, Hemerocallis, Impa tiens, Ins, Lihum, Narcissus, Pelargoni um, Petunia, Phalae nopsis. Philodendron, Phlox, Rudheckia, Sal via, Spathiphyllum, Tagetes, Verbena, Ve ronica and Viola. Researchers at the center are using in sects, mainly honey bees and bumblebees, as pollination tools to aid in their germplasm collection. The insects, said curator Susan Stieve, are quicker and more efficient than hand pollination, and also allow year-round germplasm seed produc tion in the greenhouse. “Hand pollination takes time and is expen sive, but honeybees are cheap at $4O a colony. An average colony holds !0,000 bees and they an work for several veeks pollinating as niques for evaluating the eco nomic and environmental effec tiveness of state IPM programs. The research used Pennsylvania and Massachusetts sweet corn IPM programs as case studies. Pennsy Ivania growers plant more than 20,000 acres of sweet corn annually, ranking the state tiINKLEMURST 133 Rd ' • I*** «0/ie TMf t Lititz, PA 17543-0395 mgfr ~ W ' (717) 626-4705 p|an Fax 717-626-0996 1-800-414-4705 Sfv,, „„ „ Lancaster Farming's Classified Ads Get Results! available,” said Stieve. “They are also perennial, which means they can overwinter and live year to year.” One drawback Stieve has found working with honeybees is that the insects tend to dislike re stricted areas, such as greenhouses. Bumblebees, on the other hand, are content to working in contained spaces. But they are more expensive ($lOO for a colon) of 75-100 bees) and they only live for three to four months. More than 60 percent of the growers cultivated sweet corn fields to control weeds. When the practice was used, it was em ployed on an average of 51 per cent of sweet corn acreage. Ovei all, the technique was used on 26 percent of acreage. An important component of the Pennsylvania sweet corn IPM program is a telephone hotline (800-PENN-IPM) and related Website (http://pest watch.cas.psu.edu) that provide statewide scouting informa tion for important sweet corn insect pests. Exactly half of the respondents re ported calling the hotline. Users of the service made an average of 4.7 calls to the toll-free number over the course of the growing sea- will increase some information gathering costs, such as labor costs for scouting. IPM adoption may influence returns via price premiums or changes in yields. "Adopters spent less on chemi cals and chemical applications and spent more on scouting and trapping when compared with non-adopters," Beddow said. "Overall, adopters in the sample spent $lOO less than non-adopt ers per acre of sweet corn. As suming a constant price of $2.25 Not Just Another Belt! 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