When I started my job here in 2006, many of my friends would ask me about my new job. As I tried to explain where I was working, I could tell that they could understand the word “Center” but were still trying to wrap their heads around “integrated.” Now, almost six years later and several attempts at explanation, some of them still don’t quite understand what integrated pest management is.

So if you got to this blog while looking for something else, or you were just curious to see what IPM is, this post is for you. And, while you’re here, I’m going to try to touch on another question that I’m sure is burning in many people’s minds.

What does integrated pest management, or IPM, do for us?

By definition, IPM is a way of controlling pests by choosing pest control methods that work for that particular pest. In other words, if you have ants, you may choose to use baits to kill the colony, and then find the place where they’re entering and seal it so other ants can’t come in. Sometimes insects that feed on other insects—called predator insects—can help reduce pest insects that are feeding on your plants.

The first step in IPM is to be able to identify the insect, disease or weed that is the “pest.” One of the first rules of IPM is that not every insect is a pest insect. Spiders eat other insects. Bees pollinate flowers that become fruit. If you have insect predators on your property, they can help you reduce the amount of pesticides that you’ll need to use on your plants. Reducing the amount of pesticides you need will save you money, one of the things that IPM can do for you. IPM “integrates” different types of controls rather than relying on one control such as pesticides.

Let’s talk about “management.” You may be thinking, “why do you want to manage pests? I don’t like bugs at all. Why can’t I just get rid of them?” The simple answer is that you just can’t. No matter how many bottles of insect killer or weed killer you get, you are never going to completely annihilate every insect and every weed. Some insects are needed to keep others in check; if you get rid of them, the pest insects multiply rapidly. Weeds have seeds that are buried deep in the ground and eventually sprout. The exotic invasive weeds and insects such as hydrilla, emerald ash borer and hemlock woolly adelgid have taught us why beneficial insects are so important. Without natural controls, destructive insects have nothing to keep them from multiplying and defoliating everything in their path, and many of them have found ways to protect themselves from insecticide sprays.

Insecticide resistance is another reason why IPM is important. If you’ve ever known someone who used antibiotics every time that person was sick, you know that those antibiotics eventually stop working, and the person has to use a stronger antibiotic to get better the next time. Similarly, if you use one insecticide, fungicide or herbicide repeatedly, you will eventually notice that it doesn’t work as well as it used to. When you use different methods at various times, the pest doesn’t have the opportunity to build up immunity. For example, I switch between the different flea treatments I use on my dog, so I make sure that fleas don’t ever get used to one brand in particular. IPM allows you to manage pests for the long term.

Even though many of us can’t see how the produce at the grocery store is grown on the farm, farmers have to make daily decisions about pest management. The choices they make are much more complex than the choices that most homeowners have to make about their home or garden. One element that affects their choice about pest management is the price that they will get for their crop from the buyer. Many farmers use IPM because it’s the most cost-effective in the long run, and it keeps them from wasting pounds of pesticides when the pest or disease is not present. It also helps them figure out when to use pesticides to protect their crop from pests or diseases in their area. Many farmers have used IPM to significantly reduce the amount of chemicals they use on their crops, making both your food and the environment safer.

IPM is also practiced at many of our nation’s schools. Several states have laws requiring that parents be notified when insecticides will be applied to a school building, and schools with particularly strict IPM rules have staff that regularly monitor the building for cracks and openings where insects and other pests can enter, and close those openings. Kitchen staff make sure that counters and floors are clean so that ants and cockroaches are not attracted to the kitchen or dining areas. Reducing the number of pesticide applications in schools, while still keeping the school pest-free keeps children from getting sick from both chemicals and allergens brought in by pests.

So what does IPM do for you?

• It lowers your costs, both in your own home and garden and when you shop for products.
• It helps you keep pests away for the long-term, not just for a short while, because it reduces the chance for pesticide resistance.
• It reduces the amount of chemicals going into the environment and into your body.
• It keeps children from becoming sick from pesticide applications and from pest allergens

http://www.ipmcenters.org/ipmsymposium12/

The opening plenary session begins at 8:30 AM on Tuesday in Ballroom B, MCCC.

Continental breakfast will be available starting at 7:00 AM in the Grand Lobby, MCCC.

Program:

Symposium App Available – Here is the direct link to the Android Marketplace (now called Google Play)

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=info.cipm.www&feature=search_result#?t=W251bGwsMSwyLDEsImluZm8uY2lwbS53d3ciXQ

Also, attached is the QR code image that you can scan with your smart device to get to the same install page.

We hope to have the Mac iOS app very soon.

Tuesday and Wednesday evening sessions – due to the number of sessions, several sessions have been scheduled for the evening – don’t miss them as you’re planning your schedule:

For those of you without a smart device, here is a link to the program: http://www.ipmcenters.org/ipmsymposium12/IPM12_program_final.pdf

This will be given to all attendees.

Here is a link to the abstract/proceedings book: http://www.ipmcenters.org/ipmsymposium12/IPM_12_Proceedings_final.pdf

Note that we will NOT be giving these out at the meeting this year.

As in the past, we will collect .pdf files of presentations for posting on the website after the symposium.  This is not required; it’s up to the presenters if they want to do this.

Extra activities:

Memphis Zoo and Agricenter International/Shelby Farms Park tours – Monday, March 26

Plan to meet in the Grand Lobby of MCCC to board the buses.

Rock ‘n’ Soul Museum Reception – Monday, March 26

5:00-8:00 PM – Self-guided tours of the Museum; Cash bar available

6:00-8:00 PM – Hors d’oeuvres served

Transportation is not included, the museum is about 12 blocks from MCCC.

Groups may meet in the Grand Lobby to walk/taxi/trolley together.

School IPM Round Table Discussion – Wednesday, March 28- 7:00–8:15AM at MCCC room L-2

All those interested in school IPM or currently working with IPM in K-12 schools are welcome to attend.  The agenda will include a brief update from national school IPM steering committee members, a break for breakfast, and an opportunity for participants to give updates and talk about current needs.

Posters can be set up beginning at 9:30 AM on Tuesday and should be in place by 5:00 PM on Tuesday.

Getting to the Hotel from the airport
The Memphis Marriott Downtown does not offer shuttle service from the airport. The hotel is 13 miles from the airport, usually about a 20-minute ride. 

Tennco Transportation offers online reservations at www.tenncoexpress.com. They are offering conference attendees a discounted round-trip fare of $25.00 (normal is $30.00). If you book online, the code is “X06H0″. Fare can be paid with credit card when reserved online. Advance reservations are recommended (so they know how many vans to have at the airport), but not required. Drivers can only accept payment in cash; you can give the driver the code also for the discount. 
Shuttles leave from the airport every 30 minutes; on the hour and half-hour.
Shuttles leave from the Marriott at the top of every hour. If you find you need to leave at a different time from your original reservation, that is acceptable.

The headquarters hotel is Memphis Marriott Downtown
250 North Main Street
Memphis, Tennessee 38103 USA
Phone: 1-901-527-7300
Fax: 1-901-214-3711
Toll-free: 1-888-557-8740

Sessions will take place at Memphis Cook Convention Center (across the street from the Marriott)

255 North Main St.

Memphis, TN 38103

Memphis tourist information will be sent in another email.

Weather – predicted high temperatures of 74-82°F.  While it’s raining now, the sun is supposed to shine for our arrival on Sunday and Monday.  There may be showers before we leave town.

In the early 1900s, for instance, insects and parasitoids were sometimes released after little testing on nontarget effects. As a result, the biocontrol agents often found meal sources that were more appetizing than the ones they were supposed to eat—and sometimes became a threat to a native insect or plant.

To combat the gypsy moth in 1906, for example, the parasitoid Compsilura concinnata was released in North America. Scientists knew that C. concinnata was polyphagous (pursued multiple hosts) but though that their variable appetite would ensure greater success in controlling the moth pest. Instead, C. concinnata attacked several native moths, including giant silkworm.

Florida cactus inadvertently became the preferred diet of Cactoblastis cactorum, released initially in Australia in 1926 to control prickly pear. The predator moth was so successful at lowering the prickly pear population in Australia that scientists released it in 1957 on Nevis Island in the Caribbean, close enough to the Florida coast for the moth to travel to the state and feed on several native cacti species, one of which it extinguished.

More recently (1990) a European thistle weevil, Larinus planus, was released into several western states to control Canada thisle.  By 1999, L. planus was feeding on a rare thistle species in Colorado, while ignoring the Canada thistle growing nearby.

Evens such as these led scientists to adopt new practices that would limit the chances of a biocontrol agent to attack a nontarget population. Scientists introducing biocontrol agents for weeds must present, to a federal panel, a detailed plan for host range testing based on specified protocols.

Procedures for testing biocontrol agents for insect pests do not involve a federal panel, but scientists often carefully screen close relatives of the target organism to see if the biocontrol agent will attack it, given no other food option. Organisms that adapt readily to hosts other than the target are typically rejected for use.

However, each organism presents its own risks as soon as it is released into the natural environment. In the controlled environment of a laboratory, with a limited time period, scientists cannot observe or predict how an organism may adapt over a period of years, after it has reproduced several generations and adjusted to its new climate and surroundings. The question asked is always, “do the benefits outweigh the risks, or are the possible consequences not worth the risk?”

Contrary to my usual conclusions, I’m not going to make one in this argument. I want to let those who are interested to guide the discussion. You may be a passionate advocate of biocontrol. Or you may have seen some of the past damage and now fear every biocontrol implementation. As is true with many IPM practices, there are no universal right or wrong answers. Each scientist must decide how to handle each case individually and decide what may work for today.

In the downtown Eastside community of Vancouver, people live in overcrowded, unsanitary conditions. Poverty, homelessness, drug use and HIV/AIDS incidences are high. From this community, researchers C.F. Lowe and M.G. Romney examined bedbugs recovered from three patients in nearby St. Paul’s hospital. One of the patients was suffering from methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and two patients were suffering from vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus faecium (VRE). Lowe and Romney found MRSA in three bedbugs collected from the one patient and VRE in one bedbugs collected from the other two patients. According to the paper, the patients were infested with bedbugs.

As with glyphosate-resistant weeds, bacteria that is resistant to one antibiotic are often susceptible to others. Both the MRSA and VRA bacteria isolated from the bedbugs were susceptible to other antibiotics, including clindamycin, tetracycline and trimethoprim, commonly prescribed antibiotics in the US.

Although authors state that the results point to the potential of bedbugs to act as vectors of bacteria transmission, several factors may have contributed to that potential in the three patients. First, the patients lived in an area where 31 percent of residents have reported bedbug infestations (a very high percentage).

Second, both VRE and MRSA rates in the community are high. MRSA has been found in 54.8 percent of patients at St. Paul’s Hospital, and 43 percent of drug users in that community have had a strain of MRSA unique to that community. Authors attribute the high rates of VRE to the squalid conditions, since enterococci bacteria inhabit the gastrointestinal tract and can be transmitted through food. The authors do not state that the three patients may have been infected through bedbug bites. Rather, they state that the conditions of the neighborhood—especially the overcrowding and drug use, that can leave openings in the skin—may contribute to any potential for infection by bacteria transmitted by bedbugs.

While the results of this research may counter previous assurances that bedbugs—although undesirable—are medically harmless, it supports other general findings about the relationship between insects and bacteria. Insects that walk on bacteria-covered surfaces can potentially pick up bacteria on their feet and carry it elsewhere. Insects that feed on blood can potentially ingest bacteria-ridden blood and inject it in another donor. However, in this study, although bacteria were isolated from bedbugs, the authors did not find that the bedbugs vectored those pathogens to someone else.

Probably the most important lesson is on how to protect yourself from insect-borne infections in general. Here are a few tips on how to prevent infections, whether from an insect bite or from your environment in general:

• If you live in an area with a high incidence of insect-vectored diseases (such as Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever, Lyme’s Disease, malaria, etc.), wear bug spray while outside or avoid highly shaded and consistently moist areas as much as possible. We’re not advising you against a good camp-out, but please be safe and check for ticks as often as you can. Most bug sprays keep other biting insects away, such as mosquitoes and chiggers.
• Always cook food thoroughly according to food safety guidelines. Not sure what those are? Go to FDA.gov or FSIS.gov. They have several resources for homeowners.
• Keep your living conditions as clean as possible. No need to become a clean freak, but be sure that your kitchen counters, cooking utensils and appliances pots and pans and dishware are cleaned with soap or other cleansers before use.
• If you do have an insect infestation, call your local extension office first. Although you will probably need to have an insecticide treatment, a person trained in integrated pest management can help you prevent another infestation by making some small changes around your house. Finding openings in crawlspaces, around windows and doors and through outside walls can be invaluable to keeping pests out of your house—except for the ones that follow you into the house when you come in the door.
• If you have a rash or insect bite that itches, use an anti-itch treatment on it rather than scratching. Scratching can create open wounds that can allow bacteria to enter, regardless of pest presence.

The results of the bedbug study will hopefully invite and produce more research that will further examine the potential—or lack of potential—of bedbugs to vector disease.

The Blog-Health-o-Meter™ reads This blog is on fire!.

Crunchy numbers

A Boeing 747-400 passenger jet can hold 416 passengers. This blog was viewed about 13,000 times in 2010. That’s about 31 full 747s.

In 2010, there were 54 new posts, growing the total archive of this blog to 71 posts. There were 67 pictures uploaded, taking up a total of 7mb. That’s about 1 pictures per week.

The busiest day of the year was February 25th with 238 views. The most popular post that day was Venerable NY IPM Program On the Ropes.

Where did they come from?

The top referring sites in 2010 were sripmc.org, pest.ceris.purdue.edu, insectsinthecity.blogspot.com, google.com, and twitter.com.

Some visitors came searching, mostly for lionfish, bed bugs concern, kudzu bug, lion fish, and ccd bees.

Attractions in 2010

These are the posts and pages that got the most views in 2010.

Venerable NY IPM Program On the Ropes February 2010
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Invasive Species in Aquatic Habitats – Altering the Predator-Prey Balance August 2010

Lionfish: A new delicacy, or an increasing threat? September 2010

Bed Bugs: An Increasing Public Health Concern August 2010
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Killing bed bugs in your laundry March 2010
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