Solving Pest Problems

Integrated pest management, or IPM, is a process you can use to solve pest problems

while minimizing risks to people and the environment. IPM can be used to manage all kinds of pests anywhere—in urban, agricultural, and wildland or natural areas.

Definition of IPM

IPM is an ecosystem-based strategy that focuses on long-term prevention of pests or their damage through a combination of techniques such as biological control, habitat manipulation, modification of cultural practices, and use of resistant varieties. Pesticides are used only after monitoring indicates they are needed according to established guidelines, and treatments are made with the goal of removing only the target organism.

Pest control materials are selected and applied in a manner that minimizes risks to human health, beneficial and nontarget organisms, and the environment.

What is a pest?

Pests are organisms that damage or interfere with desirable plants in our fields and orchards, landscapes, or wildlands, or damage homes or other structures.

Pests also include organisms that impact human or animal health. Pests may transmit disease or may be just a nuisance. A pest can be a plant (weed), vertebrate (bird, rodent, or other mammal), invertebrate (insect, tick, mite, or snail), nematode, pathogen (bacteria, virus, or fungus) that causes disease, or other unwanted organism that may harm water quality, animal life, or other parts of the ecosystem.

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How does IPM work?

IPM focuses on long-term prevention of pests or their damage by managing the ecosystem

With IPM, you take actions to keep pests from becoming a problem, such as by growing a healthy crop that can withstand pest attacks, using disease-resistant plants, or caulking cracks to keep insects or rodents from entering a building.

Rather than simply eliminating the pests you see right now, using IPM means you'll look at environmental factors that affect the pest and its ability to thrive. Armed with this information, you can create conditions that are unfavorable for the pest.

In IPM, monitoring and correct pest identification help you decide whether management is needed

Monitoring means checking your field, landscape, forest, or building—or other site—to identify which pests are present, how many there are, or what damage they've caused.

Correctly identifying the pest is key to knowing whether a pest is likely to become a problem and determining the best management strategy.

After monitoring and considering information about the pest, its biology, and environmental factors, you can decide whether the pest can be tolerated or whether it is a problem that warrants control. If control is needed, this information also helps you select the most effective management methods and the best time to use them.

IPM programs combine management approaches for greater effectiveness

The most effective, long-term way to manage pests is by using a combination of methods that work better together than separately. Approaches for managing pests are often grouped in the following categories.

Pest Controls

Discover the controls we have in place to deal with pests.

Biological control is the use of natural enemies—predators, parasites, pathogens, and competitors—to control pests and their damage. Invertebrates, plant pathogens, nematodes, weeds, and vertebrates have many natural enemies.

Cultural controls are practices that reduce pest establishment, reproduction, dispersal, and survival. For example, changing irrigation practices can reduce pest problems, since too much water can increase root disease and weeds.

Mechanical and physical controls kill a pest directly, block pests out, or make the environment unsuitable for it. Traps for rodents are examples of mechanical control. Physical controls include mulches for weed management, steam sterilization of the soil for disease management, or barriers such as screens to keep birds or insects out.

Chemical control is the use of pesticides. In IPM, pesticides are used only when needed and in combination with other approaches for more effective, long-term control. Pesticides are selected and applied in a way that minimizes their possible harm to people, nontarget organisms, and the environment. With IPM you'll use the most selective pesticide that will do the job and be the safest for other organisms and for air, soil, and water quality; use pesticides in bait stations rather than sprays; or spot-spray a few weeds instead of an entire area.

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IPM Programs

IPM is based on scientific research

These IPM principles and practices are combined to create IPM programs. While each situation is different, six major components are common to all IPM programs:

  1. Pest identification
  2. Monitoring and assessing pest numbers and damage
  3. Guidelines for when management action is needed
  4. Preventing pest problems
  5. Using a combination of biological, cultural, physical/mechanical and chemical management tools
  6. After action is taken, assessing the effect of pest management

Tree injection, also known as trunk or stem injection, is a method of target precise application of pesticides, plant resistance activators, and fertilizers into the xylem vascular tissue of a tree

with the purpose of protecting the tree from pests or nutrition for correction of nutrient deficiencies.

This method largely relies on harnessing the tree’s vascular system to translocate and distribute the

active compounds into the wood, canopy and roots where protection or nutrition is needed. Tree

injection is currently the most popular method for control of damaging insects, pathogens, and

nematodes in landscape tree care. It has been developed primarily for use on large size trees and in proximity of urban areas where ground- and air-spray applications are impractical due to substantial drift-driven pesticide losses or not allowed due to potential human exposure. However, the prime driver of tree injection use has been a wide spread need for control of many invasive tree pathogens and insects pests. The most infamous examples are that of Ophiostoma fungi that cause Dutch Elm Disease (DED) and insect Emerald ash borer (Agrilus planipennis) which have specific biologies that lead to severe internal damage of wood and thus tree death, and which make their management extremely difficult or inefficient with classical pesticide application methods. Trunk injection for tree protection is viewed as environmentally safer alternative for pesticide application since the compound is delivered within the tree, thus allowing for selective exposure to plant pests.

In landscapes and urban zones trunk injection significantly reduces the non-target exposure of water, soil, air, and wildlife to pesticides and fertilizers. In the last 20 years, tree injection is gaining momentum with the development and availability of new, efficient injection devices and injectable and xylem mobile formulations of pesticides, biopesticides [19]  and nutrients. Further, a number of newly occurring and fast spreading invasive insect pests and diseases such as Polyphagous Shot Hole Borer (PSHB) Euwallacea sp., which vectors plant pathogenic fungus Fusarium euwallaceae, and Sudden Oak Death (SOD) caused by an Oomycete Phytophthora ramorum, establish the use of trunk injection as the most efficient tree protection technique in landscapes and urban forestry caused by an Oomycete Phytophthora ramorum, establish the use of trunk injection as the most efficient tree protection technique in landscapes and urban forestry.

Frequently Asked Questions

These FAQs explain how tree care services for municipalities and parks help maintain safe, healthy, and attractive public spaces.

We offer comprehensive services, including tree planting, pruning, removal, pest and disease management, and risk assessments to ensure the safety and health of trees in public spaces.

Proper tree care enhances the safety, aesthetics, and environmental benefits of public spaces. It helps prevent hazards, promotes healthy tree growth, and creates enjoyable green spaces for the community.

We use specialized equipment and follow strict safety protocols to minimize risks during tree care operations. Our certified arborists are trained to handle complex projects in high-traffic areas.

Yes, we provide tree inventory services and develop customized management plans to help municipalities and parks maintain healthy urban forests and plan for future growth.

We offer 24/7 emergency tree services to handle situations like storm-damaged or fallen trees. Our team responds quickly to ensure public safety and minimize disruption.

Our expertise in managing trees in public spaces ensures that municipalities and parks maintain safe, healthy, and visually appealing environments. Contact us today to learn how we can support your tree care needs!

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