4.5+IPM+pd2

What is Integrated Pest Management?
Integrated Pest Management is a form of pest management where monitoring is used to determine when treatments are necessary. When using the programs of Integrated Pest Management, treatments are not predetermined or scheduled but rather utilized when the pest is determined to need preventative action (Integrated Pest.. 2008).

[[image:http://www.ag.ndsu.edu/pubs/plantsci/pests/pp863-1.gif width="464" height="386" align="center" caption="Illustration showing components of an IPM year -- Soil preparation, planting, etc."]]
© North Dakota State University, [|http://www.ag.ndsu.edu/pubs/plantsci/pests/pp863w.htm

History and Health Effects

The EPA recommends a 4-point system for IPM (Integrated Pest.. 2008):

__**1. Set Action Thresholds**__ The area and situation in question is first studied, and an action threshold is set. This is the point at which the pest's actions warrant preventative measures, the point at which it becomes worthwhile and safe to act against the pest. These thresholds are often the point at which the pest does more economic damage then the management would cost.

__**2. Monitor and Identify Pests**__ Some organisms are pests, and some are not, before action is taken against an organism, the population must be studied and monitored. In this way appropriate actions can be taken that are effective without being excessive, and without causing damage to organisms other than the targeted pest. This helps guard against the misuse of pesticides or other possibly harmful chemicals, against organisms unaffected by them. Classification of Pests

__**3. Prevention**__ The front line in any integrated pest management system is prevention, the guard against increases in damaging populations or the immigration of unwanted species. A commonly used method of prevention is crop rotation. There are also various pest-resistant strains of crops, and growing these kinds can provide a safe method of pest prevention.

__**4. Control**__ After study and monitoring indicates that the action thresholds have been surpassed, a method must be found to effectively and efficiently address the problem with an appropriate solution. This comes only after prevention can no longer maintain the pest problem. There are various levels of control used in sequential order, each one only being used if the one before it was not sufficient, to minimize unnecessary damage. 1. Highly targeted chemicals and trapping or weeding. 2. Targeted spraying of less targeted pesticides. 3. Non-targeted spraying of non-specific pesticides. Integrated Pest Management Tactics detailed here

Paul F. Brain © University of Wales, Swansea image courtesy Centre for Bioscience, the Higher Education Academy, ImageBank [|http://www.bioscience.heacademy.ac.uk/imagebank/.