Scouting for Bugs
It all begins with an idea. Maybe you want to launch a business. Maybe you want to turn a hobby into something more. Or maybe you have a creative project to share with the world. Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.
Don’t worry about sounding professional. Sound like you. There are over 1.5 billion websites out there, but your story is what’s going to separate this one from the rest. If you read the words back and don’t hear your own voice in your head, that’s a good sign you still have more work to do.
Be clear, be confident and don’t overthink it. The beauty of your story is that it’s goingEvery year, customers ask about pesticides. Do we use pesticides? How much? What kind? At Hart-T-Tree Farms, we use an integrated pest management (IPM) approach to pest control. What is IPM? Well, let us tell you all about it.
According to the North Carolina State University Cooperative Extension, one definition of Integrated Pest Management or IPM is “a strategy for keeping plant damage within bounds by carefully monitoring crops, predicting trouble before it happens and then selecting the appropriate controls — biological, cultural, or chemical as necessary.” Say, what? In other words, by growing smarter, we use less pesticides and fertilizers on our Christmas trees.
What are these “smarter” methods?
Scouting. Scouting is the regular, systematic, and repeated sampling of pests in the field in order to estimate the presence of a pest and their population levels. Scouting is geared towards the major pest problems and is modified by weather that favors particular pests. Each season, we walk through our fields and look for signs of pests that might cause problems — twig aphids, cinara aphids, mites, elongated hemlock, etc, etc. We use a white piece of paper or a paper plate to “beat the foliage” on a tree and then a magnifying glass to see what bugs are on the tree. We inspect the trunk, the branches, and sometimes the roots of a tree.
Ground Cover Management. Growers are in the business of growing Christmas trees. However, that business depends on successfully growing a second crop, ground covers, around the trees. Ground covers reduce erosion and promote better root growth, and there’s an added benefit. When they flower, they attract beneficial insects which help control Christmas tree pests. Ground covers also provide habitat for many kinds of wildlife — from quail to butterflies — thereby increasing biodiversity.
Encourage natural predators. There are many beneficial insects that keep the population of harmful insects in check. Beneficial insects are small and easily overlooked. The IPM Christmas tree farmer has learned to recognize them when scouting. They also protect these beneficials through wise pesticide choices. By using pesticides that kill only the pests and not the “good” insects, an IPM grower gets added free pest control.
Wait to Spray. IPM growers learn patience as they wait to see if natural controls such as changing weather and beneficial insects will control their pest problems for them. That’s hard to do when time and money is on the line. However, IPM growers have enough confidence in the IPM program to do just that.
By following many of these IPM techniques, Christmas tree farmers in North Carolina have reduced pesticide use by 50% over the last decade. We are grateful to the North Carolina State University Cooperative Extension specialists who continue to research new methods for pest control and work with farmers to ensure that we are using the best, most effective, and safest methods possible. to continue to evolve and your site can evolve with it. Your goal should be to make it feel right for right now. Later will take care of itself. It always does.
