Recipient Organization
UNIVERSITY OF DELAWARE
(N/A)
NEWARK,DE 19717
Performing Department
Cooperative Extension
Non Technical Summary
The purpose of the Delaware Extension Implementation project is to facilitate integrated pest management (IPM) strategy adoption by Delaware stakeholders with the overall goal of improving the health and sustainability of Delaware agricultural service providers, horticultural service providers, and communities. This goal will be achieved by coordinating efforts in the followingareas:Agronomic Crops, Specialty Crops,Communities,Pollinator Health, as well as supporting pest diagnostic facilities and pesticide applicator education. Pest surveillance, surveys and demonstration trials in agronomic and specialty crops as well as landscape horticultural crops are just some of the activities in this proposal that address Plant Protection Tactics and Tools. Our proposal will also provide support for and expand the impact of the UD plant diagnostic clinic, therebyaddressing the CPPM goal of Enhancing Agricultural Biosecurity. Activities focusing on small farms, high tunnels, and landscape pests, and collaborative activities with master gardeners are some of the primary mechanisms for which this proposal addresses IPM for Sustainable Communities. Furthermore, demonstrations of the influence of proper cultural techniques, pest surveillance, and addressing tactics for improving pollinator health contribute to both IPM for Sustainable Communities and Plant Protection Tools and Tactics.
Animal Health Component
100%
Research Effort Categories
Basic
(N/A)
Applied
100%
Developmental
(N/A)
Goals / Objectives
Our purpose is to facilitate IPM strategy adotpion by DE stakeholders with the overall goal of iproving the health and sutainability of DE communities and service providers across agricultural and horticultral industries Our goal will be acheived through the following objectives: Demonstrate cover crops as IPM tactics in specialty and agronomic cropsSurvey for agricultural, horticultural, and landscape pestsAssist stekholders with pest identification, anticipation, and planningEnhance pollinator health, resiliency, and habitatProvide IPM support for smaller acreage, high education-need cropsProvide pesticide safety and application training to commercial applicators, private applicators, and homeowners
Project Methods
Extension programming consists of demonstrations at both universities' facilities, on-farm collaborations, needs assessment surveys, and digital and print resources.Agronomic Crop team members (Koehler, Owens, and VanGessel) will lead field pest surveys in these crops to identify needs and increase pest awareness. In 2020, sorghum varieties were evaluated to assess aphid tolerance. Through this project, we will partner with sorghum growers to install and monitor variety strips on their farms. Cover crops for grain sorghum will also be demonstrated at the UD Carvel Research and Education Center.Rhizoboxes will be constructed as a demonstration tool to visualize nematode damage to infected root systems.. The trapping program will also include European corn borer pheromone traps, a historical corn and specialty crop pest suppressed by suppressed by regional Bt adoption.Current efforts in DE are evaluating post-emergence treatments in soybean, and we propose to continue evaluations with at least 5 partner-farmers.There is an effort by extension personnel in the Southeast to develop an app-based recommendation platform for field crop producers. DE extension personnel will be partnering with colleagues from those states to assist in the creation, content development, and distribution of an app that can be used by stakeholders in the field to provide immediate extension recommendation guidance.Coordinate extension efforts surveying cover crops on vegetable/fruit farms with the goal of identifying cover crop benefits and challenges: weed management,diseases, insect and horticultral challenges. Unrecognized pests will be sent to the UD Plant Diagnostic Clinic for identification. Specific pest concerns will also be addressed in vegetable crops. There is local interest in evaluating new processing crops; we will evaluate potential candidates and help identify pests the industry could face. Herbicide resistance, nematode impacts, and insect pest surveillance are additional supporting activities for addressing DE specialty crop industry needs. Insect trapping efforts will be expanded to include armyworm spp. and stink bug. Vineyards, a small, high value production system, will be surveyed for pests such as the spotted lanternfly.We will build on previous EIP grant activities demonstrating biological control strategies in high tunnel environments including the use of banker plants.We propose to continue demonstrating mite management techniques and product efficacy, as well as developing more accurate Varroa population growth curves in our geographically distinct apiaries.We will be monitoring population dynamics and behavioral management strategies which will be used to develop and deliver BMPs to DE beekeepers to ensure pollination services for specialty crop growers.The UD Bee Lab in collaboration with Mt. Cuba Center has been running cultivar trials of different pollinator-friendly genera to understand what constitutes high quality forage for flower-visiting insects.We propose to expand current demonstrations and plant two new types of plots as part of our community project. One type will highlight the importance native plants to pollinators and beneficial insects, planted in 3 locations in the state. Demonstrations will include plants that provide pollinator resources as well as wildlife food, cover, and nesting areas year-round. T Our second type of new demonstration will focus on turf and be used for surveillance of annual bluegrass weevil, compost incorporation, and cultivar demonstration.Finally, we propose to modify a current demonstration plot type targeting emerald ash borer and bark beetles funded by previous EIP grants by including maple and crape myrtles for educational opportunities with spotted lanternfly and crape myrtle bark scale.We propose to expand the DE Cooperative Extension system's capacity to meet homeowner, private, and professional applicator needs by supporting a facilitator to work with the IPM team members to develop engaging educational materials.Training modules will be developed in a manner so as to qualify for credits in other mid-Atlantic states while following National IPM Roadmap guidance to provide applicators with safety and stewardship practices for targeted and efficient pesticide use.