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 $4O a colony.
An average colony holds
!0,000 bees and they
an work for several
veeks pollinating as
niques for evaluating the eco
nomic and environmental effec
tiveness of state IPM programs.
The research used Pennsylvania
and Massachusetts sweet corn
IPM programs as case studies.
Pennsy Ivania growers plant
more than 20,000 acres of sweet
corn annually, ranking the state
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available,” said Stieve. “They are also perennial,
which means they can overwinter and live year
to year.”
One drawback Stieve has found working with
honeybees is that the insects tend to dislike re
stricted areas, such as greenhouses.
Bumblebees, on the other hand, are content to
working in contained spaces. But they are more
expensive ($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
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enue for adopters in the sample
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Beddow’s research can be
viewed on the Web at http://
scholai .lib.vt.edu//
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