LeBude, Anthony (author), Fulcher, Amy (author), Dubois, Jean-Jacque (author), Braman, S. Kris (author), Chappell, Matthew (author), Chong, J.C. (author), Derr, Jeffrey (author), Gauthier, Nicole (author), Hale, Frank (author), Klingeman, William (author), Knox, Gary (author), Neal, Joseph (author), Windham, Alan (author), and North Carolina State University
University of Tennessee
National Science Foundation Center for Integrated Pest Management
University of Georgia
Clemson University
Virginia Tech
University of Kentucky
University of Florida
10 pages., Via online journal., Three, 2-day hands-on experiential learning workshops were presented in three southeastern United States cities in June 2014, by the Southern Nursery Integrated Pest Management (SNIPM) working group. Attendees were provided 4 hours of instruction including hands-on demonstrations in horticultural management, arthropods, plant diseases, and weeds. Participants completed initial surveys for gains in knowledge, skills, and abilities as well as their intentions to adopt various integrated pest management (IPM) practices after the workshop. After 3 years, participants were again surveyed to determine practice adoption. Respondents changed their IPM practice behavior because of attending the workshops. Those returning the survey set aside more time to scout deliberately for pests, plant diseases, and weeds; used a standardized sampling plan when scouting; and adopted more sanitation practices to prevent plant disease. Fewer horticultural management practices were adopted than respondents originally intended. Future emphasis should be placed on using monitoring techniques to estimate pest emergence, for example, traps and pheromone lures, as well as plant phenology and record keeping. However, more work is needed to highlight both the immediate and long-term economic benefits of IPM practice adoption in southeastern U.S. nursery production.
