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Why Try BASIC?
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California cotton growers have traditionally been one of
the biggest users of chemicals in the state’s agriculture.
The high cost of chemical control and the low price for
ginned cotton point toward a new way of thinking about pest
management—an areawide agroecology approach offered
by the BASIC program.
BASIC uses techniques such as plant mapping,
fertility measurements, and scouting methods that recognize
the importance of assessing population numbers of both potential
pest and natural enemy populations to predict future population
trends. Scouting for natural enemies as well as pests makes
it possible to determine pest control actions appropriate
to their actual need. Natural enemy conservation and enhancement
in a proactive program is the goal of Ecologically Based
Pest Management (EBPM). Treatments are made with selective
or soft chemicals only when necessary and when the action
will help restore EBPM. Habitat enhancement and additional
releases of beneficial insects are at the forefront of EBPM
programs.
In the Chowchilla area of San Joaquin Valley,
BASIC growers were able to reduce pesticide use by 83% while
maintaining or improving yields and profitability. Growers
in the central San Joaquin have been able to show similar
results.
The Sustainable Cotton Project ( non-profit
organization) received a grant from the California State
Water Resources Control Board to provide participant growers,
and pest management consultants, an opportunity to apply
BASIC methods in the Firebaugh area as well as in Kern County.
Senior entomologist, Everett "Deke"
Dietrick, has spent his professional career researching
applied techniques to eliminate pesticide sprays in cotton-growing
regions. Most cotton spray programs were found to be unnecessary
in the 1960’s before the appearance of pink bollworm.
Combining the BASIC model from northern San Joaquin Valley
and the unique experience of the Dietrick Institute staff
with EBPM in cotton, gives growers a chance to try farming
with reduced chemicals creating a more sustainable future
for cotton farming.
Five Features of Ecologically
Based Pest Management (EBPM)
1:: Avoidance of disruptive
pesticides
Spray only if there is a pest problem! Repeated use of all
classes of chemical pesticides results in resistant pests.
The natural enemies of pests generally do not reproduce
as quickly as their hosts so when they are killed, they
do not have an equal chance to develop resistance, as do
the pests. Restoring biological control through EBPM allows
beneficial populations to grow back into balance.
2:: Development of beneficial
refuges
Strip or trap cover crops attract natural enemies that offer
a field insectary and winter refuge for beneficial insects.
These refuges provide the most economic way to establish
biological control on your farm. Parasites live several
times longer and destroy more pests when there are plants
that provide pollen, nectar and refuge. Think of reserving
1% of your field for pest control by natural enemies. Much
of the 1% can come from roadsides, borders, box ends and
row ends.
Alfalfa borders can be used to trap lygus utilizing strip
cutting to force beneficials to migrate into market crops.
Roads or road borders may include limited amounts of other
annuals, such as early radish, kale or fava beans, depending
on the situation of each farm. Small scattered stands of
corn (combining 90 and 120 day harvest) can be used to attract
bollworm adults and their egg and larval parasites as well
as to attract general predators of corn aphids, mites, and
thrips.
For example, interplantings of a few hills of corn will
act as a trap crop for corn earworm (cotton bollworm) which
serve as food for a complex of 25 or more natural enemies.
3:: Monitoring of insect
ecology
Effective pest management decisions can only be made if
beneficial as well as pest populations are monitored regularly.
Sampling with an insect vacuum net (D-Vac) provides a more
complete sample of all life stages of pests and beneficials
than conventional sweep net sampling. One can follow the
progress of biological control interactions by observing
the size and density distribution of pest populations. For
example, samples of only eggs and adults without the larval
stages suggest that when the adults die the pests will no
longer be a problem. Rating the ratio of pests to beneficials
makes it possible to predict damage thresholds more accurately
and farther into the future in time to prevent yield losses.
4:: Development of cultural
practices
Crop rotation, hedge rows and refuge enhancement management
exploits the biology of both pests and beneficials to optimize
the efficacy of the beneficials. For example, many more
beneficials migrate into adjacent row crops sooner from
strip cut alfalfa than from uniformly cut alfalfa.
5:: Release of beneficial
organisms
Early releases of beneficials when the pest is first detected
is the most cost effective way to establish beneficial populations
that provide season long control.
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