Integrated Pest
Management (IPM)
IPM is the balanced use of cultural,
biological, and chemical procedures that are environmentally compatible
and economically feasible to reduce pest populations to a tolerable
level.
Methods of Control
-
Physical/cultural - involves practices which prevent water from
standing for more than four days, such as repairing ditches to prevent
seepage, clearing ditches of vegetation to promote rapid flow, and
improving drainage channels in irrigated fields.
-
Biological - a naturally occurring bacteria called Bti, which is
toxic only to mosquito and black fly larvae, and is not toxic to beneficial
insects. A native plains fish is used to control mosquito larvae in
areas where there is standing water for long periods of time, such as
wetlands and ponds.
-
Chemical - "Biomist," also known as Permethrin, a man-made
version of Pyrethrin which is derived from plants in the Chrysanthemum
family, is used as a last resort, and only when nuisance threshold values
have been exceeded.
Nuisance threshold values (mosquito numbers above
100 per trap) are determined by trapping adult mosquitoes in annoyance
areas. The Biomist is applied at an ultra-low volume so that an
extremely small amount of product is applied over a large area
(7ounces/acre).
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