Podcasts about integrated pest management ipm

[RE-UPLOAD FROM AUG. 14, 2020]In this episode, Zsofia spoke with Joy Landis, Michigan State University's Integrated Pest Management (IPM) communications manager.You can follow Bug Talk on Instagram and Twitter @bugtalkpodcast, and YouTube @bugtalk6645

In this episode, host Kyle Kushman sits down with integrated pest management expert Matthew Gates to explore how to keep your home and indoor gardens healthy, pest-free, and thriving. Integrated Pest Management (IPM) is a holistic approach to controlling pests by combining smart prevention, biological controls, and safe treatments. The discussion breaks down what IPM means for everyday growers and why a preventative approach to pests beats reacting after an infestation. Whether you're cultivating cannabis, vegetables, or houseplants, these tips will help any grower protect their plants through natural, eco-friendly methods. Episode Highlights:01:34 - An Introduction to IPM08:00 - Organic Solutions22:01 - Beneficial Insects32:43 - Beginner IPM PracticesBy the end of this conversation, you'll have a toolbox of IPM tips to help you cultivate a pest-free, thriving garden naturally. It's a must-watch for anyone looking to grow healthier plants with fewer pest headaches – whether you're a beginner or a seasoned green thumb. Get ready to take your pest management skills to the next level with insights from a true IPM specialist!If you enjoyed this episode, please like the video, leave a comment with your thoughts, and subscribe to our channel for more insightful cultivation content.Follow @natehammer420 and @homegrownseed on Instagram for daily gardening tips, updates, and behind-the-scenes content!DisclaimerDisclaimer: Always check your local regulations and read product instructions carefully before applying any pest control treatments. Use all pest control methods responsibly and according to label guidelines.

Conversations In Ken's Café Claude Robert @claude_the_druidSeason 3, Episode 19 Cannabis IPM specialist & technical supervisor @ Anatis BioprotectionCannabis enthusiast since 1986. Collecting genetics and knowledge since the beginning of this passion. Passionate about biology with a focus on agronomy and entomology. Working in greenhouse research since 2004. Teacher and speaker for the fruit production sector. Worked manyyears on the pests and pathogens alert team at the minister of agriculture of Quebec. Now taking care of the cannabis sector at Anatis Bioprotection supervising a team of passionate experts across Canada and the USA. Protectingcrops from pests and diseases for medical growers, home growers, micro-producers and licensed producers. Also really involved in research and development for Integrated Pest Management IPM in cannabis production. Today's Guest: Claude Robert @claude_the_druidhttps://anatisbioprotection.com/en/https://www.linkedin.com/company/anatis-bioprotection/https://www.linkedin.com/in/claude-robert-1a997b193/https://www.instagram.com/claude_the_druid/crobert@anatisbioprotection.com  Your HostKen Somerville “It's All AboutThe Biology”https://www.instagram.com/kensomerville/https://twitter.com/KenSomerville1https://www.itsallaboutthebiology.caContactemail itsallaboutthebiology@gmail.com https://www.linkedin.com/in/ken-somerville-6b9945239/https://www.facebook.com/itsallaboutthebiologytour Helpsupport the mission: patreon.com/user?u=104510089 Discount codes available at: https://www.itsallaboutthebiology.ca/discountcodesMusic by Andy Lopez#flowers,#plants,#nature,#gardening,#garden,#growing,#koreannaturalfarming,#naturalfarming,#jadam,#naturalfertilizer,#naturalfarminginputs,#permaculture,#regenerative,#foodforest,#biodynamic,#bioactive,#organic,#notill,#knf,#organicgardening,#urbangardening,#containergardening,#homegardening,For Full: Disclaimer

In this insightful episode of the Bug Bux Podcast, hosts Eric Bassett and Jake Claus sit down with Nick Grisafe, a longtime industry expert from Syngenta, to discuss the industry's biggest challenges and innovations. They dive into Integrated Pest Management (IPM), best practices for application, and why many professionals struggle to implement IPM effectively.Nick also shares exclusive insights into Plinazolin, Syngenta's groundbreaking new active ingredient—the first new chemistry in nearly 20 years! Plus, he offers practical advice on optimizing Demand CS applications, staying compliant with new regulations, and how top-performing pest control companies set themselves apart.Tune in for expert knowledge, industry humor, and even a side of Nick's famous homemade grape jelly!

One of the standout topics at this year's National Tillage Conference was on pesticide reduction and the role of Integrated Pest Management (IPM). Presenters Meghan England and Robert McDougall, both researchers at Teagasc, join this week's Tillage Edge podcast to share their insights. Meghan conducted an extensive review of scientific papers and concluded that the evidence supporting pesticide reduction, whilst maintaining yields, is quite limited.  Meanwhile, Robert's research highlighted that expert opinion suggests a significant yield reduction in Ireland if pesticide use is curtailed.  Presentations are available at www.teagasc.ie/tillagecon25 For more episodes and information from the Tillage Edge podcast go to:https://www.teagasc.ie/crops/crops/the-tillage-edge-podcast/ Produced on behalf of Teagasc by LastCastMedia.com 

The Soil Matters with Claude Roberts @claude_the_druid   Cannabis IPM specialist & technical supervisor @ Anatis Bioprotection Cannabis enthusiast since 1986. Collecting genetics and knowledge since the beginning of this passion. Passionate about biology with a focus on agronomy and entomology. Working in greenhouse research since 2004. Teacher and speaker for the fruit production sector. Worked many years on the pests and pathogens alert team at the minister of agriculture of Quebec. Now taking care of the cannabis sector at Anatis Bioprotection supervising a team of passionate experts across Canada and the USA. Protecting crops from pests and diseases for medical growers, home growers, micro-producers and licensed producers. Also really involved in research and development for Integrated Pest Management IPM in cannabis production.   Today's Guest: Claude Roberts @claude_the_druid https://anatisbioprotection.com/en/ https://www.linkedin.com/company/anatis-bioprotection/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/claude-robert-1a997b193/ https://www.instagram.com/claude_the_druid/ crobert@anatisbioprotection.com   Your Host:   Leighton Morrison https://www.instagram.com/kingdomaqua... https://www.kingdomaquaponicsllc.com/   Executive Producer Ken Somerville https://www.instagram.com/kensomerville/ https://www.itsallaboutthebiology.ca Contact email itsallaboutthebiology@gmail.com Reach out to Ken for a quick 15 min call: https://calendly.com/kensomerville/connections   Help to support the mission: patreon.com/user?u=104510089   Discount codes available at: https://www.itsallaboutthebiology.ca/discountcodes   #flowers,#plants,#nature,#gardening,#garden,#growing,#koreannaturalfarming,#naturalfarming,#jadam,#naturalfertilizer,#naturalfarminginputs,#permaculture,#regenerative,#foodforest,#biodynamic,#bioactive,#organic,#notill,#knf,#organicgardening,#urbangardening,#containergardening,#homegardening,   Music by The Invisible Gardener (Andy Lopez) https://soundcloud.com/invisiblegardener For Full: Disclaimer

Send us a textOn this episode of The Plant Movement Podcast, we welcome Dr. Alexandra Revynthi, Assistant Professor at the University of Florida's Tropical Research and Education Center (TREC). Dr. Revynthi, a remarkable polyglot fluent in Greek, English, Spanish, Dutch, and German, shares her expertise in entomology and nematology, focusing on pests that impact ornamental plants.Key topics include:- Current pest challenges in the ornamental plant industry.Insights into her work at TREC, from pest diagnostics to groundbreaking research.- The advantages of Integrated Pest Management (IPM) and biological control methods.- Her collaborations with extension offices and the development of tools like traps and screening methods.- Accessible educational resources, including a dedicated tab for ornamental pest information and open-class opportunities for all enthusiasts.Join us as we explore her innovative approaches to supporting the green industry and ensuring sustainable pest management practices. Don't miss this insightful episode!Dr. Alexandra Ravynthi // UF/IFAS TRECCall: (786)-217-9244Email: arevynthi@ufl.eduIG: www.instagram.com/alex_revynthi      www.instagram.com/uftropicalWebpage: https://trec.ifas.ufl.edu/people/alexandra-revynthi/ Ag Economist Dr. Hammami: https://trec.ifas.ufl.edu/people/dr-hammami/--------------------------------------------------------------------------------The Plant Movement PodcastEmail: eddie@theplantmovementnetwork.com & willie@theplantmovementnetwork.comCall: (305) 216-5320 Web: https://www.theplantmovement.comFollow Us: IG: https://www.instagram.com/theplantmovementpodcast A's Ornamental NurseryWE GROW | WE SOURCE | WE DELIVERCall: (305) 216-5320Web: https://www.asornamental.comFollow Us: IG: https://www.instagram.com/asornamentalnurseryPlant Logistics Co.(Delivering Landscape Plant Material Throughout the State of Florida)Call: (305) 912-3098Web: https://www.plantlogisticsco.comFollow Us: IG: https://www.instagram.com/plantlogisticsThe Nursery GrowersCall: 786-522-4942Email: info@thenurserygrowers.comIG: www.instagram.com/thenurserygrowersweb: www.thenurserygrowers.comDisclaimer: The contents of this podcast/youtube video are for informational and entertainment purposes only and do not constitute financial, accounting, or legal advice. I can't promise that the information shared on my posts is appropriate for you or anyone else. By listening to this podcast/youtube video, you agree to hold me harmless from any ramifications, financial or otherwise, that occur to you as a result of acting on information found in this podcast/youtube video.Support the show

Drawing on his extensive experience in farm management and his work as an agronomist and horticulturist, Tapiwa Masimba delves into the subject of crop protection.He examines the effectiveness and challenges of physical, chemical, and biological pest control methods, emphasising the significance of Integrated Pest Management (IPM) for sustainable farming. Additionally, he addresses practical strategies for protecting crops from environmental damage, such as shade netting and greenhouse structures, while underscoring the need to adapt to extreme weather conditions, including black frost.Masimba also provides insights into innovative technologies, such as drones and GPS-guided tractors, which are revolutionising modern farming. However, he advises farmers to adhere to regulations when adopting these tools.

Recorded: 7/12/24Stored grain insect pests like weevils and grain moths can greatly reduce grain quality during storage, and increase the risk of grain rejection at the elevator. In this episode, we chat with Penn State Entomologist and Extension Specialist, Dr. John Tooker, about the biology of these insect pests and how to manage them using an Integrated Pest Management (IPM) approach.  Links:The Penn State Agronomy GuidePreparing Grain Storages for HarvestManagement of Stored Grain Pests in Organic SystemsHosts: Ryan Spelman and Justin Brackenrich, Penn State ExtensionGuest: John Tooker, Ph.D., Penn StatePhoto credit: Clemson University - USDA Cooperative Extension Slide Series, Bugwood.org Sign up to receive our newsletter, Field Crop News! and follow us on Facebook!

Visit https://homegrowncannabis.com/ and get amazing deals on quality cannabis seeds so that you can grow your own at home, safely! In this eye-opening episode of "Grow Weed at Home with Kyle Kushman," Kyle welcomes Integrated Pest Management (IPM) expert Matthew Gates to delve into the California Pesticides Scandal shaking the cannabis industry. They discuss the disturbing reality of untested pesticides in commercial cannabis, the health risks they pose, and the broader implications for consumers. Matthew shares insights on hazardous chemicals commonly found in cannabis and the challenges of testing for a wide range of pesticides. The conversation also covers sustainable pest management strategies, the complexity of pesticide resistance, and the importance of home growers being vigilant and informed. Tune in for a deep dive into the scandal, practical tips for safe cultivation, and a candid discussion on the future of pesticide regulation in cannabis. **Disclaimer:** The content discussed in this episode of "Grow Weed at Home with Kyle Kushman" is intended for informational purposes only and should not be considered as professional advice. The views and opinions expressed by the hosts and guests are their own and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the show or its sponsors. Always consult with a qualified professional before making any decisions related to pest management, pesticide use, or cannabis cultivation. The show assumes no responsibility or liability for any actions taken based on the information provided in this episode.

How important is Vapor Pressure Deficit or (VPD) in your garden?In this episode of Grow Weed at Home with Kyle Kushman, join me as I delve into the world of tent cultivation and answer some of the most pressing questions on cannabis growing. From navigating the challenges of limited space to optimizing environmental conditions, I'll share valuable insights and practical tips to help you elevate your cultivation game.Discover the importance of Vapor Pressure Deficit (VPD), explore the essential appliances beyond lights for a successful tent grow, and learn about the optimal day and night time temperature and humidity settings. We'll also discuss the benefits of growing single cultivar versus multiple strains, as well as how to integrate Integrated Pest Management (IPM) and foliar feeding into your cultivation routine.Don't miss out on this episode packed with expert advice and cannabis cultivation wisdom. Subscribe to our YouTube channel, leave a comment, and join our community of passionate growers seeking to cultivate cannabis at home with success.Disclaimer: The content of this video is for educational and entertainment purposes only. Cultivating cannabis may be subject to legal restrictions in your area. Always comply with local laws and regulations.

In this episode we sit down with Integrated Pest Management (IPM) specialist Matthew Gates to delve into the often-overlooked world of cannabis viruses and viroids. In this episode, Matthew brings his extensive expertise to the table, shedding light on the insidious pathogens that can silently wreak havoc on cannabis crops. As the cannabis industry continues […]

This week we will discuss best practices and approaches when it comes to Integrated Pest Management (IPM) in your No-Till garden. The methods we discuss and use are organic, low-stress and practical. We run through: Planning and preparing for the obstacles ahead Powdery Mildew; how to avoid it, how to deal with it Aphids and Root Aphids; how to identify, how to manage, how to cope with them Thrips; how to identify, how to manage and how to cope Green horn worms and using BT kurstaki We hope to see you all next week!

In today's episode of Grow Sessions, Jason Hadley from FILTR teams up with Tony to delve into the intricacies of microbial control in the cannabis industry with a focus on creating clean spaces for your cannabis facility in the segment titled " Clearing the Air: Cultivating Clean Spaces for Your Cannabis Facility.”As the cannabis industry experiences increasing legalization and regulation, the significance of microbial control cannot be overstated. Join us as we explore the world of cannabis cultivation, emphasizing the necessity of rigorous mold compliance testing before products reach the market.Topics covered in this episode include the crucial aspects of air quality, the role of air systems and movement, the importance of Integrated Pest Management (IPM), the significance of SOPs, routine maintenance for seamless operations, root cause analysis for identifying air quality issues, standards for constructing and designing a sanitary facility, industry benchmarks like ASTM, and predictions on FDA regulations post-federal legalization of cannabis.Stay tuned as we navigate through the complexities of microbial control in the cannabis sector, offering insights that promise to shape a safer and cleaner future for cannabis cultivators worldwide. About Jason Hadley, FILTR Playing all positions on the field, Jason started as trimmer and fell in love with the industry, further developing his commercial cultivation skills and experience. Personally, living the pain points all growers experience, his natural desire to help others landed him at FILTR, where he learned the how and why of cleaning from a Food and Pharma perspective. Earning a HACCP certificate from Rutgers University Food Innovation Center and professionally certified in Pharma cGMP through Biopharma Institute, Jason serves licensed commercial operators as a Sales Engineer with FILTR air purification and translates microbe control know-how from Pharma to Cannabis so that growers can implement cleaner operations and a enjoy a higher likelihood they'll consistently meet their state's microbe compliance mandates.If you have  any questions, you can reach Jason Hadley at jhadley@golighthouse.com Thanks for listening. Be sure to subscribe to our podcast to receive upcoming episodes.

Weed management is the bane of existence for many gardeners and one of the most critical aspects of farming and land management. Finding safe, effective, and culturally appropriate weed management solutions is a challenge but can be addressed by betting understand the life cycle of the specific weed that is causing a problem. Dr. Bryan Brown is a Senior Extension Associate, NYS Integrated Pest Management and Adjunct Assistant Professor, School of Integrative Plant Science Horticulture Section at Cornell University's College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. He joins Nature Calls: Conversations from the Hudson Valley to discuss Weeds and IPM (Integrated Pest Management). Bryan's focus is on improving the management of weeds while minimizing the environmental, economic and human health risks. Integrated Pest Management (IPM) is a decision-making process that uses science-based information on the life cycles of pests (including weeds) and their interaction with the environment to manage damage by the most economical means, and with the least possible hazard, to people, property, and the environment. In the case of weed management, it may involve hand pulling, tilling the soil, covering the soil with cardboard, solarization, other mechanical removal means, or chemical controls. IPM weed management steps typically include: Identifying the plant(s)that are the source of the problem. Understanding the biology and economics of the weed, where it is found, and any potential ‘Achilles heel'. Monitoring plants including any natural controls (insects, competing plants, etc.). Establishing any injury thresholds to understand the potential damage from infestations, its natural enemies, the sensitivity of the site, and the weather. Actions should be taken only when the potential damage is justified. Selecting an appropriate control strategy. Cultural practices include modification of habitat or operating procedures to minimize damage and enhance natural control. Choosing plant varieties that are resistant to pests, or adjusting planting time, fertilization, tillage, and harvest operations to have the most beneficial effect on the weed management situation. Biological controls including predators, parasites, and diseases. Chemical control involves selecting an herbicide with the lowest toxicity to humans and non-target organisms and using it in such a way as to prevent or minimize undesirable environmental effects. After carefully reading the label, the lowest effective dosage of chemical is applied at the appropriate time of year. Evaluating the weed management program and improving it when possible. In this episode, you'll learn about the importance of understanding the weed's life cycle, whether it's an annual, biennial, or perennial to assess potential control techniques. For annuals, it's critical to stop the plant from going to seed. For perennials, interrupting the plants' ability to send energy to its spreading roots is key to success. So using cover crops or mowing at the right time of year and the right height can make a difference. Hoes can help with mechanical removal. There are many types available, but the best one is a personal preference. Research efforts are underway to determine potential biological controls for some problematic weeds like Japanese knotweed. As Bryan says, there are lots of new developments coming to help with weed management in the future. Hosts: Tim Kennelty and Jean Thomas Guest: Dr. Bryan Brown Photo by: Cornell University Production Support: Linda Aydlett, Deven Connelly, Teresa Golden, Xandra Powers, Annie Scibienski

Our guest this morning is Suzanne Bontempo, an Integrated Pest Management (IPM) advocate, environmental educator & professional horticulturist.  She joins us to talk about managing pests with minimal use of pesticides; be they bugs or rodents or what have you.  There are alternatives that are organic compatible and better for our bodies and the world around us.  Suzanne's website is plantharmony.orgSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Our guest this morning is Suzanne Bontempo, an Integrated Pest Management (IPM) advocate, environmental educator & professional horticulturist.  She joins us to talk about managing pests with minimal use of pesticides; be they bugs or rodents or what have you.  There are alternatives that are organic compatible and better for our bodies and the world around us.  Suzanne's website is plantharmony.orgSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

People today are paying closer attention to the values of the brands they support. Research conducted by Harris Poll revealed that 82% of shoppers prefer a consumer brand's values to align with their own, and they'll vote with their wallet if they don't feel a match. Welcome to Marketing Tip Monday with SIP Certified. We know customers are looking for wines labeled as sustainable. While our longer-form episodes help you learn about the latest science and research for the wine industry, these twice-monthly micro podcasts will help you share your dedication to sustainable winegrowing so you can show your customers that you share their values. In addition to consumers voting with their dollars, Harris Poll found that 75% of shoppers surveyed have even parted ways with a brand over a conflict in values! Sustainable winegrowers and winemakers can easily connect with conscious consumers over these 7 values." 1. Social Responsibility Practicing social responsibility helps foster healthy relationships at work and in the community: Treat employees and the community with care and respect. Get involved in charity work, volunteering, & donations. Are aware of the impacts of the business (social and environmental!). 2. Water Management Did you know that less than 1% of our planet's water is accessible freshwater we can use to fulfill our daily needs? Sustainable wine brands do! That's why they: Use native plants for landscaping and cover crops. Conduct plant and soil tests to determine irrigation needs. Collect and reuse wastewater.  3. Safe Pest Management Both commercial and hobbyist farmers deal with pesky pests that damage crops, steal resources, and spread diseases. Sustainable winegrowers use an informed and tailored approach to tackling their farm's unique and dynamic pest complex: Introduce beneficial insects to challenge insect pests. Attract birds of prey to hunt vertebrate pests. Manage canopy and fruit density to reduce mildew pressure. All of these practices are part of an Integrated Pest Management (IPM) system. 4. Energy Efficiency Making wine is an energy-intensive process. Whether from fuel, battery, or electricity, energy is used at every step of the process that turn grapes to wine. With so many uses of energy, there are many ways to improve efficiency: Reduce tractor passes with vineyard equipment that covers multiple rows. Reduce energy use by properly insulating tanks and buildings. Reduce dependence on fossil-fuel—based electricity with alternative sources like wind and solar.  5. Habitat Sustainable winegrowers cultivate a biologically-diverse ecosystem that sets the vineyard up to thrive without excessive use of inputs like water and fertilizers: Create and adhering to conservation plans. Maintain wildlife corridors to give wildlife safe passage. Preserve open, uncropped areas so native plant and wildlife species have a home.  6. Business Sound and responsible business practices help set a business up for long-term success: Annual and multi-year budgets. Accurate record keeping. Offer benefits packages and competitive pay.  7. Always Evolving In order to stay successful and relevant, sustainable businesses constantly look for opportunities to learn more and evolve: Attend and host educational events. Subscribe to local and industry news. Provide education and upward movement opportunities for employees. We are here to help you tell your customers how your brand protects natural and human resources with the Sustainable Story program. This simple yet powerful free tool helps you tell your own personal sustainable message. And it just got better with a new online course.  Go to the show notes, click the link titled Tell Your Sustainable Story to sign up, and start writing your Sustainable Story today!     Until next time, this is Sustainable Winegrowing with the Vineyard Team. Resources: *** Tell Your Sustainable Story Online Course *** Marketing Tips eNewsletter ReSIProcal February Sustainable Story | Print Sustainable Story | Electronic What's your Sustainable Story? Whitney Brownie | Get YOUR Sustainable Story Featured Vineyard Team Programs: Juan Nevarez Memorial Scholarship - Donate SIP Certified – Show your care for the people and planet   Sustainable Ag Expo – The premiere winegrowing event of the year Sustainable Winegrowing On-Demand (Western SARE) – Learn at your own pace Vineyard Team – Become a Member

Thanks for joining us, today we welcome Dr. Christian Krupke a professor in the Dept of Entomology at Purdue University where he focuses on insect pest management in field crops. His research has concentrated on illuminating the strengths and weaknesses of the primary pest management approaches used in corn and soybeans. And he has a special focus on Bt corn and neonicotinoid seed treatments. Dr. Krupke and Monte discuss the resilience of nature and how fast it bounces back. They discuss what we've learned about preserving the biology in the soil and how to reconsider those pest management systems. He completed his doctoral degree in entomology at Washington State University in 2004, and since 2005 has worked at Purdue with responsibilities in insect pest management in field crops (i.e. corn, soybeans, wheat, and other small grains), where he leads active applied research and extension programs. Dr. Krupke also teaches a graduate-level course in Integrated Pest Management (IPM). His research has focused on elucidating the strengths and weaknesses of the primary pest management approaches used in corn and soybeans, with a special focus on Bt corn and neonicotinoid seed treatments of corn and soybeans. Dr. Krupke has published over 50 peer- reviewed manuscripts and given dozens of talks on these subjects to fellow researchers, members of USDA, EPA, USFWS, and a range of stakeholder groups including growers of these commodities, beekeepers, and a wide range of conservation organizations. Important links: https://extension.entm.purdue.edu/fieldcropsipm/index.php https://www.pnas.org/doi/abs/10.1073/pnas.2108429118 Got questions you want answered? Send them our way and we'll do our best to research and find answers. Know someone you think would be great on the AgEmerge stage or podcast? Send your questions or suggestions to kim@asn.farm we'd love to hear from you.

Welcome to CropCast, your go to podcast for all the latest information on arable crops. Each month, SAC advisor, Tiffany Mactaggart will be joined by a range of industry experts, bringing you timely updates to help you make decisions in the field. Producer George Gauley, Editor Iain Boyd, Executive Producer Kerry Hammond, in association with the Scottish Government. In this episode Tiffany Mactaggart is joined by Dr Henry Creissan an applied plant pathologist at SRUC and Professor Adrian Newton, a cereal pathologist/ Agroecologist at the James Hutton Institute, to discuss their work, which is looking at the impact of reduced tillage on integrated pest management (IPM) and how farmers can practically incorporate IPM into their own businesses. Linked FAS Resources The Centre for Sustainable Cropping is: https://csc.hutton.ac.uk/ Hutton's IPM website: https://ipm.hutton.ac.uk/ Grieve's House Tillage Platform: https://ghplatform.hutton.ac.uk/ and virtual tour: https://virtualtours.hutton.ac.uk/grieveshousetour/ Arable Scotland: https://www.arablescotland.org.uk/ Groundswell Scotland is this: https://www.fwi.co.uk/regenerative-agriculture/falkland-estate-to-host-new-regenerative-farming-event-in-scotland Bayer open day at Boghall trial site. https://cropscience.bayer.co.uk/events/bayer-field-day-edinburgh/

Podcast episode (2) description:Welcome to Grow Weed at Home, the cannabis podcast where we explore everything you need to know to cultivate your own marijuana plants at home. In this episode, we are joined by Matthew Gates, an Integrated Pest Management (IPM) specialist from the renowned Zenthynol.com.Matthew discusses the importance of ensuring your garden is properly prepared for planting, from an IPM perspective. He breaks down the crucial steps growers need to take to minimize the risk of pests and diseases, and offers practical tips for both indoor and outdoor cultivation methods.From soil preparation to selecting the right compost, listeners will learn about the necessary measures to take before planting cannabis. Additionally, Matthew also offers insights on how to spot early signs of pests or diseases and what to do in case of an infestation.If you're a cannabis grower looking to maximize your yield and ensure healthy plants, tune in to this episode of "Grow Weed at Home" and learn from an expert in IPM.

Integrated pest management for blowfly, worms and lice is the topic of todays podcast, with our guest Alison Colvin.  Alison has published work on practices on farm and has also been involved in a lot of survey work. You can find more hereAlison runs us through the surveys, which had some interesting results about incidences of flystrike, treatment trends and the effects of drought on lice, fly and worm problems and much more. You can read the results for yourself here:The Australian Sheep Parasite SurveyMark and Alison then run through Integrated Pest Management (IPM) for lice, worms and flies. Starting with a hot topic at the moment, lice. The results of the survey confirmed what they have known for a while, that the prevalence of lice on Australian flocks is around 20% but it is decreasing slightly."Introduction through purchased and stray sheep was the most ranked reason for recurring lice infestations. The second was not completing the whole flock at the same time and incomplete mustering. So there are still areas for improvement on our on farm lice control." says Alison"Rotation of lice products is theoretically good, you should be able to get rid of all of the lice and not have any surviving lice building up resistance. BUT that relies on us using the products properly for lice prevention. Dose rates...all sheep treated, shearing equipment is changed between sheds etc."So, if the lice treatment is effective, and you have good boundary fences and biosecurity regimes then you might not have to deal with lice for a good period of time. It's just making sure you're paying attention to detail with lice. Mark makes a great point. "Flies and worms turn up anyway, whereas lice you can win the battle and remove them from your property. "Mark and Alison also run through the key parts of Integrated Pest Management (IPM) that are important for worms and flies too.  Alison highly recommends the website paraboss.com.au for information and tools for IPM. Although this is an Australian website, our listeners worldwide will definitely find something worthwhile on there. There really is no avoiding these pests when sheep farming so this is a good podcast for anyone involved in your farming business. Head Shepherd is brought to you by neXtgen Agri International Limited, we help livestock farmers get the most out of the genetics they farm with. Get in touch with us if you would like to hear more about how we can help you do what you do best - info@nextgenagri.com.Thanks to our sponsors at MSD Animal Health and Allflex, and Heiniger Australia and New Zealand.These companies are leaders in their respective fields and it is a privilege to have them supporting the Head Shepherd Podcast. Please consider them when making product choices, as they are instrumental in enabling us to bring you this podcast each week.Check out Heiniger's product range HERECheck out the MSD range HERECheck out Allflex products HERE

In June 2022, the European Commission adopted proposals for a new Regulation on the Sustainable Use of Plant Protection Products, which includes the new Sustainable Use of Pesticide Regulation (SUR). This SUR regulation could be the first step towards an effective and coherent pesticide reduction policy in the EU.The regulation involves EU-wide targets to reduce by 50% the use and risk of chemical pesticides by 2030, in line with the EU's Farm to Fork and Biodiversity strategies. New measures will ensure that all farmers and other professional pesticide users practice Integrated Pest Management (IPM). This is an environmentally friendly system of pest control which focuses on pest prevention and prioritises alternative pest control methods, with chemical pesticides only used as a last resort.However, these plans have not been popular among some Member States, who officially requested a further impact assessment from the European Commission on 27 December. The Commission has to submit the necessary data at the latest six months after the request came into force. There are concerns that this could potentially delay or derail moving ahead with the regulation's ambitions.In contrast, a recent European Parliament report pushes to increase the Commission's 50% reduction target to 80% by 2030 for “the use of more hazardous plant protection products”. This would move the legislation closer to the demands of a recent citizens' initiative, ‘Save bees and farmers', which had called to aim for a general reduction of synthetic pesticides by 80%.Relisten to this EURACTIV Virtual Conference to learn about the proposals for a new Regulation on the Sustainable Use of Plant Protection Products.-Are these proposals comprehensive enough to reduce the bloc's environmental footprint?-Is a 50% reduction in the use and risk of pesticides a feasible target for Member States to achieve?Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.

The Soil Matters with Claude Roberts @claude_the_druid, An IPM Specialist. Natural Pest Control, and the Cannabis plant. Claude Roberts is the real deal; with decades of knowledge and understanding of both the Cannabis plant and integrated pest management(IPM), you will be amazed at what is talked about on this amazing Podcast. Sit back, roll a big J, and learn from one of the best in the industry when it comes to IPM and Cannabis. #clauderoberts,#anatisbioprotection,#ipm,#integratedpestmanagement,#leightonmorrison,#avsingh,#livingsoil, Cannabis IPM specialist & technical supervisor @ Anatis Bioprotection Cannabis enthusiast since 1986. Collecting genetics and knowledge since the beginning of this passion. Passionate about biology with a focus on agronomy and entomology. Working in greenhouse research since 2004. Teacher and speaker for the fruit production sector. Worked many years on the pests and pathogens alert team at the minister of agriculture of Quebec. Now taking care of the cannabis sector at Anatis Bioprotection supervising a team of passionate experts across Canada and the USA. Protecting crops from pests and diseases for medical growers, home growers, micro-producers and licensed producers. Also really involved in research and development for Integrated Pest Management IPM in cannabis production. Today's Guest: Claude Roberts @claude_the_druid https://anatisbioprotection.com/en/ https://www.linkedin.com/company/anatis-bioprotection/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/claude-robert-1a997b193/ https://www.instagram.com/claude_the_druid/ crobert@anatisbioprotection.com Your Hosts: Dr. Av Singh, PhD, PAg. https://www.linkedin.com/in/av-singh-... https://www.fs-cannabis.com/ https://growupconference.com/ For a full bio visit: https://growupconference.com/speakers... Leighton Morrison https://www.instagram.com/kingdomaqua... https://www.kingdomaquaponicsllc.com/ Executive Producer Ken Somerville https://www.instagram.com/kensomerville/ https://www.itsallaboutthebiology.ca Contact email itsallaboutthebiologytour@gmail.com Gifts to support the tour: https://www.givesendgo.com/G9AZD Reach out to Ken for a quick 15 min call: https://calendly.com/kensomerville/connections #flowers,#plants,#nature,#gardening,#garden,#growing,#koreannaturalfarming,#naturalfarming,#jadam,#naturalfertilizer,#naturalfarminginputs,#permaculture,#regenerative,#foodforest,#biodynamic,#bioactive,#organic,#notill,#knf,#organicgardening,#urbangardening,#containergardening,#homegardening, https://www.youtube.com/@itsallaboutthebiology?sub_confirmation=1 Disclaimer It's All About The Biology Channel podcasts and coverage of live events are for general educational/informational and/or entertainment purposes only, the use of any information on these podcasts or materials linked from these podcasts is at the user's own risk, this channel does not necessarily agree with any of the content or opinions shared by our hosts or guests, and as these podcasts are streamed live, we cannot be held responsible for what our hosts or guests say or recommend, neither should our hosts be held responsible for what any of the guests say or do, it is the listener's/viewers' responsibility to decipher whether the content is useful in their own circumstance(s). This channel does not constitute the practice of medicine, nursing, or other professional health care services, including the giving of medical advice, and no doctor/patient relationship is formed between the channel's hosts/guests and our listeners/viewers, the content of this channel is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment, users should not disregard or delay in obtaining medical advice for any medical condition they may have and should seek the assistance of their healthcare professionals for any such conditions.

Vineyard farmers manage numerous pests but the invasive species can be some of the most troublesome. Kyle McAbee, President of McAbee Ag Consulting, PCA and CCA sustainability specialist shares what growers need to know to manage pests currently in their area, like Vine Mealybug, and prepare for ones that could come in the future, like Spotted Lantern Fly. Integrated Pest Management (IPM) is critical. Sustainable and conventional growers should rotate chemistries, scout to track location, time of year, and mating events, look at how other areas manage the pest, control host species, and be ready to do something about the issue. Most importantly, growers should talk with their Ag Commissioner, Farm Advisor, and each other. References: 26: Controlling Mealybug Vectors of Grapevine Viruses 49: Stopping the Spread of Red Leaf Viruses 96: Spotted Lanternfly - Threat to California Kyle McAbee email McAbee Ag Consulting FaceBook page Penn State Extension Spotted Lanternfly StopSLF.org UC IPM: Vine Mealybug Vineyard Team Programs: April 12, 2023 Neighborhood Vine Mealy Bug Management Meeting - REGISTER Juan Nevarez Memorial Scholarship - DONATE SIP Certified Vineyard Team – Become a Member Get More Subscribe wherever you listen so you never miss an episode on the latest science and research with the Sustainable Winegrowing Podcast. Since 1994, Vineyard Team has been your resource for workshops and field demonstrations, research, and events dedicated to the stewardship of our natural resources. Learn more at www.vineyardteam.org.   Transcript Craig Macmillan  0:00  Our guest today is Kyle McAbee. He is president of McAbee Ag Consulting. He is a licensed pest control advisor, and certified crop advisor with a certification in sustainability specialization. And we're going to talk about pests. Thanks for being thanks for being on podcast Kyle.   Kyle McAbee  0:18  Yeah, good to be with you Craig.   Craig Macmillan  0:20  So you and I were just chatting. And I also been thinking about this a lot recently. And one of the big challenges for sustainability in agriculture in general was pest management, obviously. And I've been looking back into the past and kind of watching things. And I've been wondering if you see something similar to this, have you seen changes in pest pressure, different kinds of pressure, particular pest in different regions? In the last seven or eight years?   Kyle McAbee  0:46  Yes, absolutely. Definitely seen, you know, fluctuations in pest pressure, with certain pests, likely an average overtime average, slow increase, but that said, you know, it's it's year to year, some years, you know, we're looking for certain pests in places that we've seen them for years in and years out and can't find them. I'll give you an example. Last year, the mite population, in particular Paso Robles, but I think in a wider area, you know, I speak with a lot of different PCAs in the local industry, and we're all scratching our heads wondering, you know, hey, we've had Pacific Mite these blocks for the last six, seven years in, we can't find one this year. It just depends on the season and what pest we're talking about, of course, too.   Craig Macmillan  1:29  And that's a really interesting one to me, because that suggests that biological control is working, right? Because you're not treating for mites unless you're seeing mites. So it's not a question of a prophylactic set of sprays, necessarily, they've knocked on the population, one would think, or maybe it's some kind of changing climate reason.   Kyle McAbee  1:48  When we're looking at any of these populations, whether it be pest or whether it be a beneficial insect. It is absolutely environmentally based, whether, you know, we had a warm winter, and it didn't knock back the overwintering populations as normal, or we had an extremely cold winter, which, you know, could further give us some over over winter kill on the overwintering populations, depending on what pest we're talking about, obviously, but yeah, environmental chemicals that are being used, and well, not even chemicals. You know, of course, cultural practices, you know, what folks are doing for dust control for mites? For example, you know, there's just so many factors. But yes, I do think environment and warm winters, and obviously, warm spring and summer have played a big part in increased pest pressure, and particularly mealybug.   Craig Macmillan  2:34  Yeah, so with mites, we just talked about a decline. And when we're talking about vine mealybug, I've been hearing the same thing. And it seemed like, well, back in the 90s, when it showed up, it was just a disaster. I mean, it was really, really bad, you know, and it's never gonna go away. But then things seem like they kind of settled down. I mean, he still had to deal with it. But it wasn't the kind of incredible devastation that we saw in the late 90s. Now you're seeing these things start to these populations and the damage start to come back up, right?   Kyle McAbee  3:02  Yes, I do believe that, you know, as an industry, overall, we've definitely seen an increase in the last, I guess, eight harvests or so that have been in Paso Robles. And not just Paos Robles, you know, kind of up and down the central coast. And yeah, yeah, absolutely seen seen situations where, you know, we've been in control of vine mealybug in certain areas, you know, our hotspots, if you will, is that all of a sudden, we've kind of lost control lost a grip a little bit, or, you know, they're starting to win a little bit more than they were before. Additionally, and more importantly, to me, is we've got blocks and vineyards, that historically, you know, we've been rigorously scouting them season in and season out. And all of a sudden, we're finding mealy bugs, and I'm, and, you know, we'll, you know, blocks that we've trapped, for years just preempt, you know, preventatively to monitor the population that way as well. All of a sudden, we start getting a, you know, a couple counts here, and a couple of counts there. And so we start paying closer attention. And, you know, couple year two, year three after that, then we, you know, all of a sudden, hey, we found some vines with mealybug, on Vine mealybug. And knowing that, you know, had not had that problem in those blocks previously. So new populations moving into new blocks.   Craig Macmillan  4:17  From what I understand we're finding vi mealybug in areas where we haven't had it before. We're seeing increases in the counts, populations are there. Do you have some ideas about why that might be?   Kyle McAbee  4:29  Two different things going on here? We're gonna start with areas blocks of vineyards that we know we've had hotspots of vine mealybug we've been watching them and fighting them for years, maybe a decade for some folks maybe longer for others in those areas. You know, we've had successful years weather that we've had help from Mother Nature and those years in addition to our, you know, IPM programs, whatever it may be, but I do know that over time in the last, you know, five years call it I've definitely had some areas where I've seen Those spots increase, and I've started to scratch my head. And despite the fact that I rotate chemicals, and, you know, IRAC groups and all that, and our cultural practices, I do see, you know, some loss of control in those areas and increase in population and maybe, you know, even growth, you know, outward into the vineyard, you know, I think that, in particular has a lot to do part just in part, but a lot of it is that has got to do with maybe some chemical resistance, some some product resistance, you know, in particular, the neonic, the IRAC 4A's have been so widely used year in and year out, over and over, I've been very suspicious of resistance to those, I don't lean just on those, but I've definitely seen areas where we get no control from those products. And so I've done some work with the USDA to look into that, in particularly one vineyard in Monterey County, we, you know, we took samples of the population, and that was an inconclusive test, you know, there's many reasons as to why that didn't, didn't really work out, a lot of it was the protocol in the lab and how they were doing it, but that doesn't change my mind. And the idea that we do have some resistance to, to those products, not just to pick on those, but I think that's where first place to start, if we're going to talk about resistance with my mealybug I think that's a big part of the problem. The other part of that the meaning, you know, hotspots that are have spread, or you know, are getting worse, I think that those vines are getting older, and the, you know, the bark is fluffing, and there's just more protection for them underneath the bark, as opposed to young, young vineyard, you know, so those hotspots, you know, obviously, as you go, you know, 5, 6, 7, 8 years later, well, those vines are a whole different environment for vine mealybug. And I think that plays a big part into it as well, you get some old grenache or syrah or whatever it may be some of these varietals that that do tend to really multilayers of slough bark, it's just impossible to get any of these chemistries, whether it be organic, or conventional, whatever it may be any of these products in there, and there's just too many places for him to hide, there's got to be some sort of resistance issues, at least that's my opinion, I think others agree. But there's also you know, environmental factors, not just the weather, but you know, in the more of a micro environment for these insects. So you know, these these areas that we've had these populations that we've monitored, that we've been fighting for years, and been successful all the sudden, you know, you're seeing lack of control, and you're having a hard time with even new products, and new chemistries, and additional rotation and stuff. And I think that's got a lot to do with, you know, those vines have changed in the you know, those five or 10 years, you know, they've gotten older and a big part of, as we all know, are most you know, most folks know, and older vines got, you know, much more complex bark system on the trunks and cordons, multi layers, much more area for these these insects to hide under the bark and where we can't make contact with them. And I think that's a big part of it that I know a lot of folks have talked about, and we're all aware of and there's just, you know, what do you do? Right, but I think that's a big part of why these hotspots have have gotten worse, personally, it's coverage at that point, right? It's it's simply coverage.   Craig Macmillan  8:20  In the world of fungicides we faced this for a long time. And the question then is they go Okay, now what do I do? Where do I go from here? I've become dependent on certain materials? Now I'm trying different things. I'm still like in control software chemistries, we're talking about organophosphates, or anything. What's your strategy? What do you think? And where are you going to go in the future with this?   Kyle McAbee  8:39  I'm not the only one doing this. But we in our problem areas, we rotate our chemistries a lot, but that's not all we do. A big part of this is scouting, obviously, you know, we we have to stay on top of it and monitoring any spread or new hotspots. So that's a big one. Another huge part. I mean, okay, so you've identified where they're at, well, what do you do? Well, trapping is a huge part of this cultural practice, if you will, in monitoring not just where they're at, and what they're doing, but mating events and trying to attack these things from the inside out, in addition to chemical programs that are, you know, we all use a lot of the same products, which is kind of why I touched on potential for resistance, but trapping and reacting accordingly. So looking at those meaning events, if you're going to trap, you better be willing to do something about it. Okay, we've got a count of 50 in this trap. Well, the clock is ticking. You know, that mating event is happening. Now. You don't have seven days, you don't have 14 days, you need to be able to get out there now. And if you're using floatable meeting disruptors, you've got to be willing to go out there and spray that at least that area, you don't have to spray the whole vineyard but you know, depending on the size of the property, reacting to it accordingly. The other option, you know, some of these mating disruption companies, they have the hangers and those last long So you can, you know, you've got a hotspot in an area. And as soon as you get that first flight, you know, hang those things out there in the spring, you'll likely, you know, disrupt a couple mating events at that point, you know, I believe they call for a lot of those that last, you know, 90 days or so depending on the weather. I know for a fact they're working on ones that their prototypes at this point, but they are supposed to last quite a bit longer than that. So I mean, we're talking a big chunk of our season at that point, and it goes to the organic versus conventional, right. So the flowable is not organic, certified, the cards are, well, just because you're conventional, doesn't mean you don't use the cards, I think the cards are a big part of that, you know, that meeting disruption process. So if you're conventional, I think, you know, don't look away from the cards just because they're organic. I mean, there's a lot of benefits to those things.   Craig Macmillan  10:47  Absolutely. And I think I've seen that in powdery mildew management to where folks that are not certified organic are putting a lot of Omri approved products in their in their rotation, which is interesting, because that was so that was certainly not the case back in the day. Okay. So this is a great example where we had an invasive pest, we've been trying to figure out what to do now we're trying new things, and it's gonna be constant, right. But what about new invasive pests? There's a couple of things that are out there that I think it's only a matter of time before they show up here in California, or Washington or Oregon or the other direction in your mind, because you're scouting really carefully. You're looking for stuff, all kinds of things. So you obviously you're scouting for pests that you know, but I'm guessing that you're scouting for insects, you don't know, what do you do? What would you recommend as a game plan? If I find something that's new, I don't want to get a toehold.   Kyle McAbee  11:39  Oh, yeah. Well, number one, if it's a new sighting of an invasive species, notifying the Ag Commissioner letting the you know making sure that USDA gets involved and making them aware of it, because a big part of it is it's a big picture. Program. So that's, that's number one. If you're one of the first people to find it, or if it's new to your area, if it's in your area, and it's new to your property or your your vineyard or whatever it may be looking at the States or the country, or countries that that that pest has come from and doing research and looking at what they've done looking at what they're doing there. Is there anything that they've done that is successful to mitigate that pest or deal with it? I think the spotted lantern fly is a good example. I don't think anybody knows exactly what to do with that. With that pest yet. I've obviously I don't have any direct connection with spotted lantern fly being you know, a PCA in California, however, I have done research on it, knowing that it unfortunately isn't inevitably likely to come to California, it's an invasive species from China, it was likely brought in over, you know, cargo ships and things like that. They're, they're very good movers, they lay their egg masses on semi trucks and, you know, see trains and just vehicles and they they can travel across the country that way. That's why I feel inevitably will likely be seeing some of this, you know, in the news or something. In the United States My understanding is it's you know, mostly focused on the East Coast. That's where it came in. I think Pennsylvania might have been first one I know New Jersey and Virginia, I think West Virginia, Delaware, Maryland, I think maybe even a couple others have had this issue. And it's a very, it's a very big problem. Not just for the vineyard, it is a problem for the vineyards. But it's a nuisance as well just you know, across communities. And if you have a tasting room next year, your vineyard they pretty good fliers, they're large insect, they're not afraid of humans so they can kind of swarm and just become an issue. But regarding vineyard pest control, they're very, very good feeders. They're aggressive feeders and they will suck a vine dry in in one one to two years and just take all the life out of the vines and that's that's the concern there. The other concern obviously with as goes most invasive species, we don't really have IPM program for them we don't we don't really know what to do we don't have products registered for them. We don't have spotted lantern fly for example written on really any labels that we can use and also bio control, you know, we that's part of an invasive species as well, but it likely didn't bring their you know, their predators with them, you know, their enemies. So I know they're doing work with the native bio control insects in that are in China. Currently, gypsy moth, I believe is one of them. And I believe they're doing some work with some different fungi and things like that. Yeah, I think one big thing to note that I've read is Tree of Heaven is is you know, obviously an invasive species as well from China. That's its host plant in China. So I know we've got it here. I've got areas I've been fighting, you know, Tree of Heaven for a while. So one of the biggest things other than looking for this insect is once it comes here, even now making sure you're controlling that Tree of Heaven, get rid of that stuff and not an easy one to take care of. But that's that's a big part of it, too.   Craig Macmillan  14:52  I live in the city of Paso Robles, and there's a little patch of it like right on the city limit on buying Street. It's spreading come into town. Like it's grown. It's grown up through sidewalks and stuff. And you know, as the biology pages look at, and you're like, oh my god, like, this is just a monster. I'm like, what are you gonna? Do? You know? But yeah, you're absolutely right as if you can identify those plants ahead of time and work on those. That's a great, great idea. Do you have any kind of plan? Not maybe not even for just spotted lantern fly, but let's say we get a report of something.   Kyle McAbee  15:28  Right? And that's how it's gonna happen. I mean, somebody's gonna find it somewhere. And then we're all gonna go, oh, man, what do we do? This is already part of my work anyway, is getting rid of the Tree of Heaven, trying to minimize any reason for that particular pest or other pests? You know, you got you just got to look at their hosts, I mean, their host plants, their host environment, where did they, you know, not just spotted lantern fly, but you know, other invasive species that we're looking at that are making their way into this country? And in figuring out what is their biology? What is their host environment or or plant or whatever it may be? If it it has shown up in other areas, you know, where did it come in, look at what the folks in, you know, country or other area that this invasive pest has come from? What do they do? What what products are they using? And what have they done to control it? Right? Maybe they haven't maybe it's such an aggressive problem. They haven't done it. I think number one, obviously is looking for it. For example, we get a report of spotted lantern fly, like you said in in Napa, or somewhere in California, then okay, well, it's probably here somewhere, just training your folks training your employees, you know, making sure your PCA and his his or her scouts are looking for these pests is important. And it found reporting it you know, not just to not just to the customer, you know, not just to the grower, it needs to be known on a state level or county level, you know, contacting the Ag Commissioner and asking them where, you know, what do we do with this information? Somebody needs to know about it, and making sure the USDA is aware of it. And in that way we they can kind of start tracking, you know, whatever insect it may be. But yeah, on a on a more micro level on on your own operation, looking at what products may be available to try to find it once you have it, looking at what the what they're doing and other maybe other states that have been fighting it for a while, what have they been successful with? And contacting, you know, farm advisors and talking to them about it, you know, Hey, have you guys figured out in the bio control? That's always a tough one. It's not just as simple as Okay, well, lantern fly in China, their main, you know, arch nemesis is the Gypsy Moth, well, let's just bring the Gypsy Moth over well, it's not that simple. Because there's, there's a lot of years of studies that have to go into that to make sure you're not gonna cause that insects. But looking at that, I mean, maybe that's already been done on whatever invasive species may come in, maybe that's already been figured out, and we have access to it. Who knows, you know,   Craig Macmillan  17:53  Or maybe we have an organism already here, that's similar enough that it can do something I think in terms of in terms of like predators, definitely, I think that's an option. And maybe we can do some augmentative biological control or something like that. It does sound like one of our best strategies might be to take cultural approaches initially, and just make it an unfriendly place. And then, and then kind of go from there. And like you said, see what other people have done and kind of go from there. I think that's the tricky thing, mealybug, all kinds of things, bugs and virus. We've learned a lot internationally in the last 10 years, which has been great that we've got folks working on this syndrome, variety of places we can learn from what they do, we're kind of running out of time, I want to ask you, though, in terms of sustainable pest control, and this can be fungi, this can be insect can be nematodes, it could be anything, what one piece of advice, or what one take home idea would you give to a grower if they say hey, I want to manage my vineyard in a sustainable fashion? How do I control my pests?   Kyle McAbee  18:55  Sustainability is, you know, very well correlated with IPM touched on cultural practices and things outside of, of chemical control, trapping, you know, looking looking at mating events, again, like you mentioned, making the environment unfriendly for whatever pest it may be, you know, scouting, making sure that you're aware of what is actually happening out there, what pests are out there, where they're at, in making sure something doesn't get out of control before you know it's there. Because it's really hard. Even on a you know, more aggressive, more conventional program, it's hard to reach back and knock down a population, it's much easier to to get them early on. Right? It just depends on what we're talking about when I say cultural control, looking at you know, hey, are there weeds that are causing the problem on the ground? Is it are you creating a secondary host or environment for X pests, right, keeping those things down and, you know, making sure you're not spreading them mechanically looking at you know, on a sustainable program, rotating different groups if you're on a conventional sustainable program if you're you know, if you're going for the organic products only or your organic certified then looking at those different bio insecticides or organic insecticides that are out there and what your options are, and making sure you're talking to people talking to people that have been doing it, talk to various people get multiple opinions. And one thing I've always heard about PCAs is talked to three, and you'll get three different opinions, which is good, though, because then you can kind of dig through it and see what the best options are, maybe use all three different ideas in in a rotational factor, you know, I've always been an advocate of, you know, communication with with each other. And we're all on this together. And, you know, making sure that we're all learning from one another and figuring out what worked for others and what didn't work for him, and so on and so forth.   Craig Macmillan  20:43  Yeah, exactly. And one thing I want to underline with what you just said is, you know, Scout Scout Scout monitor, monitor, monitor, record, record record, and then go back and look at those and look for those trends. And, and then the second thing being cultural, I think that's a really important idea is that if we can modify the environment, we can do a lot of good. And I think mites is a classic example mites and dust, so where can people find out more about you?   Kyle McAbee  21:06  Honestly, the best way to get a hold of me is either email or phone. I, I'm not very present on social media, with my business. I do have a Facebook, it's, you know, McAbee Ag Consulting. But that said, I think the best way to get a hold of me would be either to call me text me or email me, and I can give you that information.   Craig Macmillan  21:25  And we can put that information in the show notes, folks will be able to find you. This has been great. Thanks so much. I guess today it was Kyle McAbee. He is president of McAbee Ag Consulting, and He is a licensed pest control advisor and certified crop advisor with the sustainability specialization. Thanks so much, Kyle. This has really been a joy. I'm really, really glad you were here.   Kyle McAbee  21:45  Yeah, thank you, Craig. Appreciate it.   Transcribed by https://otter.ai

I'm joined in this episode by Margaret Parks of Evergreen Growers Supply, an Oregon-based supplier of beneficial insects and microorganisms.  We begin by discussing the big picture pieces of Integrated Pest Management (IPM) as they relate to small scale flower farming.  Then we dive into spider mite control with three fantastic beneficial insects.  We also touch on banker and trap crops as well as the importance and fundamentals of scouting.  Some important links to go along with this conversation:  Evergreen Growers Supply Margaret's Critter Links The mite predators Margaret mentions are:  Amblyseius / Neoseiulus fallacis  (pronounced "fuh-LASS-iss") Hypoaspis miles / Stratiolaelaps scimitis – (pronounced "stratio-LAY-laps") Phytoseiulus persimilis – (pronounced "per-SIM-ih-liss") Margaret offered a great pro tip during our conversation I thought I'd put here in the show notes so it's easy to reference.  Add site:.edu after google search terms to find university and extension publications quickly without having to weed through all the companies sell stuff.   Because Margaret had so much great info to share, I've split my conversation with her into two parts. Tune in again for Part 2 where we talk about a few more specific pests, like cucumber and Japanese bettles, as well as a natural product Evergreen Growers offers to combat gall.   If you liked this episode, you may want to also listen to:  Episode 8: Dahlia Pest Management with LeeAnn Huber of Coseytown Flowers Episode 15: A Little Goes a Long Way in Regenerative Flower Farming KNF and JADAM with Tony Gaetz of Bare Mountain Farm Episode 21: The Magical BRIX Number That Stops Pests – An Exciting Conversation with Dr. Tom Dykstra   HAVE IDEAS AND FEEDBACK ABOUT THE PODCAST?  Share your opinions in this brief survey.   As always, if you appreciate this podcast and all the education it provides, please take a moment out of your day to rate and write a review for it on Apple Podcasts or wherever you are listening to it.    Margaret Parks of Evergreen Growers Supply

You've probably heard that habitat destruction is a common cause of population declines for many wildlife species. It's critical for us to do what we can in our yards, neighborhoods and communities to help support wildlife by providing food, water, shelter and space. In this episode, we discuss ten tips you can consider implementing where you have influence. Learn more: Planting a Refuge for Wildlife (book)- wildlifeflorida.com/product/planting-a-refuge-for-wildlife/ Helping Cavity-Nesters in Florida - edis.ifas.ufl.edu/publication/UW058 A Bird's-Eye View: How Birds Select Habitat - edis.ifas.ufl.edu/publication/UW174 Florida-Friendly Landscaping Plant Guide - https://ffl.ifas.ufl.edu/resources/apps/plant-guide/ Florida's Wildflowers & Butterflies - www.floridamuseum.ufl.edu/wildflowers/wildflower-search/ Providing Water to Wildlife - https://gardeningsolutions.ifas.ufl.edu/design/gardening-with-wildlife/providing-water-to-wildlife.html Integrated Pest Management (IPM) - https://gardeningsolutions.ifas.ufl.edu/care/pests-and-diseases/pests/management/integrated-pest-management.html Assessment of Non-Native Plants in Florida's Natural Areas - https://assessment.ifas.ufl.edu/ How You Can Help: Implement one or more of the tips shared in today's episode- https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLMHbwAhD6pLecySSES0lTNPnRTS6Gyvhk Share this episode with family and friends https://link.chtbl.com/NaturallyFlorida Certify your yard - https://www.nwf.org/CERTIFY Sources for this Episode: The impact of free-ranging domestic casts on wildlife of the United States - www.nature.com/articles/ncomms2380/?mod=article_inline&fbclid=IwAR Native plants improve breeding and foraging habitat for an insectivorous bird - www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0006320717305153. Impact of Native Plants on Bird and Butterfly Biodiversity in Suburban Landscapes - conbio.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/j.1523-1739.2008.01076.x Can snag creation benefit a primary cavity nester: Response to an experimental pulse in snag abundance www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0006320714000056 --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/naturallyflorida/message

Chemicals are a part of modern life. But should we be concerned with the modern use of pesticides and other types of chemicals?Frank Von Hippel is a Professor of Environmental Health Sciences at the University of Arizona and the author of The Chemical Age: How Chemists Fought Famine and Disease, Killed Millions, and Changed Our Relationship with the Earth.In this episode, we discuss historically harmful chemical pesticides that are now banned, cases where there's a legitimate need for chemical usage within an Integrated Pest Management (IPM) approach, and the nuances behind legislating a ban on glyphosate.EPISODE LINKSVisit Frank's website, get in contact, and purchase his books: https://frankvonhippel.github.io/pubs.htmlBuy The Chemical Age on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Chemical-Age-Chemists-Millions-Relationship/dp/022669724X Listen to the Science History Podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/5GsUgG9L27U5ACVFoP4kO0Episode 1540 of the Joe Rogan Experience: https://open.spotify.com/episode/4P8NFI28O93M0FJktVjo2VFOLLOW US ON SOCIAL MEDIATwitter: @PlantsGrowHere / Facebook: @PlantsGrowHerePodcast - Join our Facebook group!VISIT OUR WEBSITEwww.PlantsGrowHere.comLET'S WORK TOGETHERAre you in the industry or an enthusiast with something of value to share? We're always on the hunt for interesting people, doing interesting things. If you'd like to work with us send a message via our online form or a direct email to plantsgrowhere@gmail.com.

Dr Ewen Mullins, Head of Crop Science Department, Teagasc, joined Pat Murphy, Head of Environment KT, Teagasc, on this week's podcast version of the Signpost Series to discuss step-by-step, developing Integrated Pest Management (IPM) strategies to reduce chemical inputs. A questions and answers session took place at the end of the webinar which was facilitated by Ciaran Collins, Teagasc Crops Specialist. To register for future webinars visit:https://www.teagasc.ie/corporate-events/sustainable-agriculture-webinars/  For more podcasts from the Signpost Series go to:https://www.teagasc.ie/signpostpodcast/ 

Growing a clean, green crop starts with a successful Integrated Pest Management (IPM) program. We asked cannabis industry expert, Ellis Smith, from American Cannabis Consulting to discuss the challenges and importance of keeping your cannabis facility free of bacteria, molds, viruses, and fungi. Ron Romano from SafetyNet joins us to discuss how they offer a technology originally designed for hospitals and government biosecurity to help cannabis operators ensure the cleanest environment possible for the health of their plants - and it may even help increase yields! This webcast is sponsored by SafetyNet America. https://www.cannabistech.com/webcasts/a-tech-moment/bio-security-ipm-protecting-your-crop-from-invisible-invaders/ --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/cannabis-tech/support

Dr. Alissa Welsher is Associate Senior Consultant at Elanco Poultry Food Safety. Dr. Welsher received her B.S. degree in Biological Sciences from the University of Pittsburgh, as well as an M.S. degree in Poultry Science and a Ph.D. in Cell and Molecular Biology from the University of Arkansas. Her area of expertise is molecular physiology, and she specializes in heat stress and gut health. In this episode of Food Safety Matters, we speak with Dr. Welsher about: Why a comprehensive Integrated Pest Management (IPM) program is crucial in a poultry processing plant Why it is important, at the farm level, to consider pests that carry foodborne pathogens upstream, and the types of pests that carry foodborne pathogens Pathogens that cause problems in poultry houses Why producers should prioritize IPM as an important part of food safety programs Strategies to minimize the spread of pathogens and disease from pests throughout farms How producers can reevaluate IPMs in response to resistance issues Best practices for processors to manage resistance How Elanco's Food Safety team can help poultry producers develop an IPM program to address food safety concerns Where listeners can learn more about Elanco and its solutions for developing an IPM program. Sponsored by: Elanco We Want to Hear from You! Please send us your questions and suggestions to podcast@food-safety.com

A chat with Suzanne Bontempo.  In This Garden Chat: Bugs play a vital role in the health of an ecosystem, and with a little strategic planting, we can invite the "good" ones to join us in our own growing spaces. Join us as we talk with Suzanne Bontempo about planning ahead for bugs, how to recognize the difference between pests and beneficial insects, and how to encourage the ones we want for our garden ecosystems. On the last Tuesday every month we host The Urban Farm Garden Chats where Greg Peterson has a relaxed conversation in a Zoom room with a special guest to cover useful gardening topics, and they answer questions from the live listening audience. To join us for the next event, go to www.GardenChat.org or Click HERE to register for the Monthly Garden Chat with Live Q&A Our Special Guest:Suzanne Bontempo works as an environmental educator, teaching the principles of Integrated Pest Management (IPM) for sustainable, eco-friendly pest management around the home and garden. Suzanne, owner of Plant Harmony and program manager for Our Water Our World was recognized for excellence in her field winning the 2013 CA IPM Innovators Award. She has worked as a professional gardener for over 25 years. She loves teaching folks how to grow bountiful gardens that are also safe and healthy for you, your family, and the environment.

Hey folks! We're back with the continuation of our conversation about Integrated Pest Management (IPM) from last week's episode.   All growers have their own methods of pest control. Some spray oil-based products on their plants while others have experimented with chili powder. Some growers have even used bleach on their plants... and the list of experiments and trial and error goes on.   But remember, healthy plants are significantly less likely to have pest problems–and pests aren't inherently bad. They are nature's clean-up crew. Don't just wait for anything bad to happen. Wisdom points to taking preventative action which will undoubtedly benefit you in the long run.   While some methods may temporarily rid your growth of pests, you don't want to jeopardize the integrity or health of your plants. So how do you safely and effectively avoid and deal with pests in your garden? The answer is to find a method that works best for your situation.  First, you need to know what type of pest you are dealing with. Once you have identified the specific type of invader, you can proceed with the strategy that is most effective. Do you need to further dial in your environment? Perhaps adding biological controls would help. Or, starting a regular preventative spray routine (such as bi-weekly Crop Defender treatments).  It is extremely helpful to have a general awareness of what pests are common in your environment so that you can take the confident, preventive, action needed to successfully manage pests in your grow.  Come listen as we tackle the issue of how to get rid of pests properly and safely. We'll talk about IPM and a whole lot more on this week's episode with Ben, Natty (@nattysknottynursery), and Tim (@nor.cal.kannablis), here on Fog ‘N Grow! Don't miss out on this episode!

Having pests in your garden, or on your precious cannabis plants, can be devastating. Those little devils can chew on your greenery like they are munching on an all-you-can-eat buffet.  But don't panic! There's a way to deal with it, an Integrated Pest Management (IPM) procedure. IPM is a method of controlling pests, whether they be insects or molds in a way that doesn't harm people or the environment. You don't need to saturate your plant with harmful ingredients.  Do you have cannabis aphids? Are there fungus gnats and thrips feasting on your beloved plants? In this week's episode, we'll dig deeper and discuss exactly how cannabis plants are affected by pests and insects. Tune in as Natty (@nattysknottynursery), Tim (@nor.cal.kannablis) and I talk about these pesky pests and how to fight them with the right IPM.  Tune in for fresh new episodes, here on Fog 'n Grow!   

Crafting Cannabis Episode #2 - Drying Cannabis, Growing in tents, Vapor Pressure Deficit (VPD), Integrated Pest Management (IPM), indoor vs. outdoor procedures, managing air exchange, reversing a photoperiod female, salts vs. organics, Autopots, managing reservoirs, Strain Hunters on YouTube, how Blackwater tries too much shit, how Rudy tries too much magic shit, and how Earlybird has it all figured out. ;) Website: https://craftingcannabispodcast.com Instagram: @craftingcannabispodcast @earlybird_autogrows @blackwatergrows @ruderalister

On this episode, we are joined by Russell Pace. Russell works as a cannabis cultivation consultant with a specialisation on nursery production and Integrated Pest Management (IPM). He also oversees the development of outdoor gardens and greenhouse systems that use supplemental lighting and/or light deprivation. He focuses on organic and biodynamic practices through his understanding of permaculture, agroecology and living soils to dial in methodologies to cut costs while increasing yield and quality. He has been cultivating cannabis for over 20 years and for the last 14 years in Humboldt County, CA. Russell is also founder on the Cannabis Horticultural Association (CHA), which is a professional horticultural association dedicated to the promulgation of ecologically sound horticulture. Topics: 1. Soil Science 2. Agroecology 3. The Best Weed in the World is in.... * Twitter - @TheCannabisRev2 * LinkedIn - @thecannabisreview * Episode Library - https://www.irishmedianetwork.com/the... + Cannabis Horticultural Association - https://cha.education

In the latest episode of EU Watchdog Radio, we discuss the linkages between the Ukraine war , the food crisis and subsequent ‘the policy fall-out'.  Agrobusiness lobbies and their political allies abuse the crisis to derail and delay the EU's Farm to Fork Strategy.A toxic lobby amplified by conservative politicians was very quick to start, calling for increased food production due to the Ukraine war. And thus they called for the need of more fertilisers and pesticides as they wrongfully think that this is the only way the produce enough healthy food, whereas in fact their lobby is just about defending a billion Euro agrochemical business model, at the expense of exosystems, farmers and the health of people alike. In this episode, Nina Holland, researcher at Corporate Europe Observatory (CEO) explains the interlinkages between her new report 'A loud lobby for a silent spring: the pesticide industry's toxic lobbying tactics against Farm to Fork' and the politiucal opportunism abusing the horrible war in Ukraine. Over a week ago, CEO exposed the immense and well-resourced lobby campaign against the EU Farm to Fork Strategy by pesticide lobby group CropLife Europe and their allies. On the same day, Agriculture commissioner Wojciechowski made statements implying that the Commission may be bowing to industry pressure and delay new pesticide rules. This anti-Farm to Fork lobby will certainly use this extra time to try and further derail the process. Last week many Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) deeply regretted that the much needed revision of the Sustainable Use of Pesticides Directive (SUD) is being postponed and asked the European Commission to officially present a new publication date within the briefest of delays. The European Commission was expected to publish the revision on March 23, setting the path for the legal implementation of the Farm to Fork. EU law obliges Member States to reduce the use of pesticides since 2009, but more than a decade later, they still argue against it and attack any EU initiative that would finally get them to respect both the law and the science.We also talk to Martin Derminne, expert of Pesticide Action Network Europe (PAN Europe) who explains why the pesticide law is not being respected by the member states; Derminne also explains that the 50 % pesticide reduction target that is now being postponed is in reality a non-issue because the farmers that already apply the EU-law from 2009 (SUD) and thus use Integrated Pest Management (IPM) already reduced their use of chemicals with 80 to 90%. A study shows for example that, in France, arable farmers could reduce their pesticide use by 30% without reducing their yield at all.  This podcast is produced by CEO and Counter Balance. Both NGOs raise awareness on the importance of good governance in the EU by researching issues like lobbying of large and powerful industries, corporate capture of decision making, corruption, fraud, human rights violations in areas like Big Tech, agro-business, biotech & chemical companies, the financial sector & public investment banks, trade, energy & climate, scientific research and much more…You can find us on iTunes, Spotify & Buzzsprout. Stay tuned for more independent and in-depth information that concerns every EU citizen!

In today's episode I dive into a comparison of organic plant care versus a more synthetic plant care. I answer the following questions; What is organic and synthetic fertilizer? Pros and cons of synthetic fertilizer? Pros and cons of organic fertilizer? Best organic fertilizer to use? Pros and cons of synthetic pesticides? Pros and cons of organic pesticides? What's Integrated Pest Management (IPM)? Thanks for listening! Remember, share this podcast with someone and message me on Instagram @tenneyplants to be entered into the giveaway! Plant School Merch - https://tenney-plants.creator-spring.com/ Follow us; Instagram - @tenneyplants YouTube - Tenney Plants Channel Blog - www.tenneyplants.com Pinterest - Tenney Plants Email us! - tenneyplants@gmail.com --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/plant-school/support

 Join us today on Arthro-Pod as we meet up with Frank Meek, BCE, PCQI, the technical manager of Rollins inc., the parent company of Orkin Pest Control.  Frank started his career with Orkin back in 1986, simply because he needed a job, but remained and succeeded in the industry because he loves his work and enjoys training others about the very important role of the pest controller or pest management professional in society. Today we explore how Frank defines IPM and the public misconceptions of pest management and learn about some of the out-of-the-box experiences he's had with phorid flies in a mausoleum, earwigs in a cheese factory, pests of ancient artifacts, ants on an oil rig, and the time he called in the Navy to assist with a special case. What pests keeps Frank up at night? What scares him, if it's not 300 ft heights or tight and confined spaces like tombs, tunnels, and crawlspaces? Tune in to find out!Frank Meek, International Man of Pest Management Show notesFrank has received recognition and several awards for his achievements, and our team was grateful that he made time to enlighten us through storytelling about pest control around the world.  Article about Frank Meek: https://www.pctonline.com/article/meek-rollins-ipm-award/  Contact: https://www.rollins.com/ https://www.orkin.com/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/frank-meek-bce-pcqi-73414934/ Email: Fmeek@rollins.com  Quotes from our interview: “The fun part of it is solving problems. The fun part of this is helping people and teaching people.” – Frank Meek  “No little boy or girl ever grew up and said, “I'm going to be a pest controller.' You fall into it. You love it and you stick with it, or you hate it and we try and run you off as fast as possible because if you don't love it and don't enjoy the work, you're not going to be any good at it.” – Frank Meek  Questions? Comments? Follow the show on Twitter @Arthro_PodshowFollow the hosts on Twitter @bugmanjon, @JodyBugsmeUNL, and @MSkvarla36Get the show through Apple Podcast, Stitcher, Spotify, or your favorite podcatching app!Subscribe to our feed on Feedburner!  This episode is freely available on archive.org and is licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/Beginning/ending theme: "There It Is" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0

Creating habitat for beneficial insects is a key part of Integrated Pest Management (IPM). In this episode we hear how an Oregon blueberry farm has gone large scale in creating pollinator hedgerows.

International pheromone systems' Dr Sam Jones is an expert in the use of pheromones for biocontrol in horticulture. Using his knowledge of chemistry and insect behaviour he works to develop new and improved products for the Integrated Pest Management (IPM) market. In this episode of the Horticulture Week podcast, Dr Jones explains how biocontrols work, the use of pheromones and semiochemicals, attracting beneficial insects and how an ecological balance is maintained.He reveals novel solutions he is working on, including the use of sound on apple codling moths, work to address emerging pests and smart traps as well as how he maximises the variety of plant and animal species in his own garden and of course, his own Desert Island Plant. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Integrated pest management (IPM) is moving up the farming and political agendas. At the AHDB Agronomists' Conference 2021, Neil Paveley (ADAS) and Phil Jarvis (Voluntary Initiative chairperson and farmer) took part in an evidence-based discussion. Hear how further adoption of IPM requires economic barriers to be addressed (such as through the Environmental Land Management scheme) and approaches made less risky (compared to chemical alternatives). Learn how a combination of economic incentives and improved knowledge will help farmers strike a balance between the production of food and the stewardship of land. For more information visit AHDB's IPM page

Angelo Eliades is an urban permaculturist that's able to harvest significant yields from his 60m2 of garden beds. In this episode, he explains how we can use the power of nature to grow more food with less land. We discuss Integrated Pest Management (IPM), companion planting, layering plants and much more. EPISODE LINKSVisit the Deep Green Permaculture website: https://deepgreenpermaculture.com/Permaculture Design Principles: https://deepgreenpermaculture.com/permaculture/permaculture-design-principles/Gardening DIY Instructions: https://deepgreenpermaculture.com/diy-instructions/Read my article for Deep Green Permaculture on Plant Biology Basics: https://deepgreenpermaculture.com/2021/07/01/plant-biology-basics-guest-post-by-daniel-fuller/FOLLOW US ON SOCIAL MEDIATwitter: @PlantsGrowHere / Facebook: @PlantsGrowHerePodcast - Join our Facebook group!VISIT OUR WEBSITEwww.PlantsGrowHere.comLET'S WORK TOGETHERAre you in the industry or an enthusiast with something of value to share? We're always on the hunt for interesting people, doing interesting things. If you'd like to work with us send a message via our online form or a direct email to plantsgrowhere@gmail.com.

Denis Crawford is a legendary Australian entomologist, and in this episode he was generous enough to walk us through some of the biggest offenders with regards to insect pests. We discuss sucking, chewing, boring, leaf-mining and gall-producing pests as well as Integrated Pest Management (IPM) and the importance of biodiversity. It's a great chat, give it a listen!EPISODE LINKSGarden Pests, Diseases and Good Bugs by Denis Crawford: https://www.amazon.com.au/Garden-Pests-Diseases-Good-Bugs/dp/0733331882Backyard Insects: https://www.amazon.com.au/Backyard-Insects-Updated-Paul-Horne/dp/0522869106FOLLOW US ON SOCIAL MEDIATwitter: @PlantsGrowHere / Facebook: @PlantsGrowHerePodcast - Join our Facebook group!VISIT OUR WEBSITEwww.PlantsGrowHere.comLET'S WORK TOGETHERAre you in the industry or an enthusiast with something of value to share? We're always on the hunt for interesting people, doing interesting things. If you'd like to work with us send a message via our online form or a direct email to plantsgrowhere@gmail.com.

Teagasc is running a weekly Let's Talk Dairy webinar series which is also being made available as a bonus podcast episode. In this webinar, Stuart Childs, Teagasc Dairy Specialist, is joined by Ciaran Collins, Tillage Specialist, to discuss weed control, following up on the recent webinar with Deirdre Hennessy on establishing grass-white clover swards. Ciaran gave an overview of Integrated Pest Management (IPM); pesticides and water; 2,4DB; herbicides for new lays; and pests in new lays. We should be working towards avoiding the use of pesticides by focusing on soil fertility as it underpins grassland performance as well as reseeding establishment. Having a strong reseed established has a greater power to avoid pests issues as well as the power to suppress weeds which reduces the requirement of chemical usage in the lifetime of the sward. For more episodes from the Dairy Edge podcast go to the show page at: https://www.teagasc.ie/animals/dairy/the-dairy-edge-podcast/ The Dairy Edge is a co-production with LastCastMedia.com

The gardening with Joey and Holly Radio Show heard weekly March - Oct Email your questions to Gardentalkradio@gmail.com Or call 24/7 leave your question at 1-800 927-SHOW https://thewisconsinvegetablegardener.com/ In segment two Joey and Holly go over how to know if you have a good or bad nematodes Often referred to as roundworms, nematodes are not closely related to true worms. They are multicellular insects with smooth, unsegmented bodies. The nematode species that feed on plants are so tiny that you need a microscope to see them. The adults often look long and slender, although some species appear pear-shaped. These plant parasites are not the same roundworms as the filarial nematodes that infect the human body, spread diseases, and wreak havoc on the immune system. Some nematodes feed on the outer surfaces of a plant while others burrow into the tissue. Soil-dwelling nematodes are the most common culprits, but some species can damage plant roots, stems, foliage, and flowers. No matter where they feed, these tiny worms can seriously damage to crops with their sharply pointed mouths by puncturing cell walls. The real damage occurs when a nematode injects saliva into a cell from its mouth and then sucks out the cell contents. The plant responds to the parasitic worms with swelling, distorted growth, and dead areas. Nematodes can also carry viruses and bacterial diseases inject them into plants. The feeding wounds they make also provide an easy entrance point for bacteria and fungi. Beneficial nematodes that enrich the soil may feed on the decaying material, insects, or other nematodes. Being slender and transparent, they cannot often be seen by the naked eye. Other groups of worms may be confused with nematodes. ... With a few exceptions, if you can see an organism, with the naked eye, it is not a plant-parasitic nematode. Most nematodes are harmless, but a handful of troublesome species attack the outside surfaces of plants, burrowing into the plant tissue and causing root, stem, folar and even flower damage. Other nematodes live inside the plants for part of their lives, causing damage from the inside out Are nematodes harmful? While most of the thousands of nematode species on Earth are not harmful, some cause diseases in humans and other animals or attack and feed on living plants. ... Luckily, there are ways to deter these pesky pests from disrupting your garden soil Beneficial Nematodes are microscopic, non-segmented roundworms that occur naturally in soil throughout the world. Inside the nematode's gut is the real weapon — beneficial bacteria that when released inside an insect kill it within 24 to 48 hours ADD good nematodes The solution can be applied using a watering can, Hose End Sprayer, backpack or Pump Sprayer or through irrigation or misting systems. Mix nematodes into water and gently agitate. Apply when the sun is low on the horizon as the nematodes are photophobic and do not like direct light. What To Look For for bad nematodes Typical symptoms of nematode damage can appear above and below the ground in foliage and roots. Foliar symptoms generally appear in the form of stunting of plants, premature wilting, and leaf chlorosis (yellowing). Plants displaying these symptoms generally occur in patches rather than showing across an entire field, following the usual irregular distribution of nematodes in fields. Under heavy nematode infestation, crop seedlings or transplants may fail to develop, maintaining a stunted condition, or die, causing poor stand development. Under less severe pressure, symptom expression may be delayed until later in the crop season after a number of nematode cycles have been completed. In this case, the above-ground symptoms may not be as readily apparent. Root symptoms caused by sting or root-knot nematodes can present very noticeable symptoms. Sting nematodes can form a tight mat of short roots that often assume a swollen appearance. New roots are generally killed by heavy infestations of the sting nematode. Root-knot nematodes are characterized by the swollen areas on the roots called galls. Galls may range from a few swellings on roots to extensive areas covered, which are caused by exposure to multiple and repeated infections. Beneficial nematodes can be a great alternative to chemical pesticides, and a very effective addition to Integrated Pest Management (IPM) programs. However, beneficial nematodes are living organisms and using them for pest control does require accurate information, proper storage and shipping and careful application 1 Remove all vegetation from the area. Wet the soil , then cover it with two sheets of clear plastic to raise the temperature in the soil and kill the nematodes. Dig the edges of the plastic about 6 inches into the soil to keep it in place and hold in the moisture. Place the plastic during the hottest months of the summer, and leave it in place for four to six weeks. 2 Plant cool season crops rather than warm season crops. Nematodes are less active in the cooler months, so there is less chance they will damage plants. Plant nematode-resistant plants all year long to limit damage. Nematode resistance is indicated on the seed or plant label. 3 Amend soil with plenty of organic matter prior to planting. Till or dig the organic matter several inches into the soil . The organic matter will help suppress the nematodes and keep them from causing as much damage. 4 Keep contaminated areas of the garden from spreading. Do not move plants from infested areas into clean areas. Water infested areas separately so the runoff doesn't get into clean areas. Clean gardening tools with alcohol between uses to keep from transferring nematodes on the tools. 5 Water your plants frequently; don't let them dry out. Plants are more susceptible to nematodes if they are stressed from lack of water. 6 Allow the planting bed to lie fallow for one or two seasons. Water the planting area and keep it moist so the nematode eggs will hatch, but keep the planting zone free of weeds and other vegetation. If the nematodes hatch and have nothing to eat, they will die. 7 Remove plants and dig up the roots at the end of each growing season to remove the nematodes' food source. Dispose of the plant matter. Till the soil after removing the plants to dry the soil and expose the nematodes to sunlight, which kills them. Till the soil again every few weeks to dig up more of the nematodes and expose as many as possible before the next planting season. Beneficial Nematodes hunt down, penetrate, and kill most soil dwelling pests. They will remain effective for about 2 years, but annual applications are recommended. They will also attack over wintering adult insects, pupae, diapausing larvae, and grubs when they are in the soil, bark, or even ground litter. The companies that make the show possible Proplugger of https://proplugger.com/ Rootmaker of https://myrootmaker.com/ Us coupon code Radio21 at checkout and save 15% of your order Chapin Manufacturing Inc. of https://chapinmfg.com/ Pomona pectin of https://pomonapectin.com/ Iv organics of https://ivorganics.com/ Dr. JimZ of https://drjimz.com/ Seed Savers Exchange of https://www.seedsavers.org/ Waterhoop of https://waterhoop.com/ Phyllom BioProducts of http://www.phyllombioproducts.com/home.html Happy leaf led of https://happyleafled.com/ Dripworks of https://www.dripworks.com/ Deer defeat https://deerdefeat.com/ use code Radio at check out to save 10% on your order Blue ribbon organics http://blueribbonorganics.com/ Chip Drop of https://getchipdrop.com/ Walton's Inc of https://www.waltonsinc.com/ Tree Diaper of http://www.treediaper.com/ Janie's Mill of https://www.janiesmill.com/ Nature's Lawn and Garden Inc of https://www.natureslawn.com/gardentalk can get 10% off on Aerify Plus by using this link Simply Earth of https://simplyearth.com/ Quick Snap Sprinklers of https://www.quick-snap.com/ Timber Pro Coatings of https://timberprocoatingsusa.com/products/internal-wood-stabilizer/ Bloomin easy plants of https://bloomineasyplants.com/ Tiger Torch of https://www.tigertorchltd.com/ Seedlinked of https://www.seedlinked.com/ Iron Wood Tool Company of https://www.ironwoodtools.com/ Natural green products of https://www.natgreenproducts.com/ EZ Step Products of https://ezstepproducts.com/ Rinsekit Of https://rinsekit.com/ Rincon Vitova of https://www.rinconvitova.com/ Wild Delight of https://www.wilddelight.com/ Bale buster of https://strawbalegardens-com.myshopify.com/collections/balebuster-bale-preparation-formula Soul brew kombucha of https://mysoulbrew.com/ Rescue of https://rescue.com/ Yard Glider of https://yardglider.com/ Piper and leaf of https://piperandleaf.com/ Heard on Joy 1340 AM & 98.7 FM Milwaukee, WI Saturdays 7-8 AM CST Replay Saturdays 7-8 PM CST https://tunein.com/radio/Joy-1340-s30042/ Heard on WCRN 830 AM Westborough/Boston, MA Saturdays 8-9 AM EST Replay Sundays 5-6 AM EST https://tunein.com/radio/WCRN-AM-830-Full-Service-Radio-s1112/ Heard on KYAH 540 AM Delta/Salt Lake City, UT Saturdays 1-2 PM MST Reply Sundays 1-2 PM MST https://tunein.com/radio/KYAH-540-s34223/ Heard on KDIZ 1570 AM Minneapolis, MN Saturdays 4-5 PM and replay Sundays 2-3 PM CST http://player.listenlive.co/57071 Heard on WAAM 1600 AM & 92.7 FM Ann Arbor, MI Sundays 7-8 AM EST https://tinyurl.com/p68cvft Heard on WOGO 680 AM & 103.1 FM Chippewa Falls, WI Sundays 9-10 AM CST https://onlineradiobox.com/us/wogo/ Heard on KFEQ 680 AM & 107.9 FM St. Joseph/Kansas City, MO Saturdays 6-7 AM replay Sundays 10-11 AM CST http://www.680kfeq.com/live-stream/ Heard on WNAX 570 AM Yankton SD Sundays 10-11 AM CST bonus play Saturdays 2-3 PM CST (when twins baseball is not on) https://wnax.com/ Heard on WMBS 590 AM & 101.1 FM Uniontown/Pittsburgh/Morgantown PA. Saturday 6-7 AM EST replay Mondays 6-7 PM https://www.radio.net/s/wmbshttps://www.radio.net/s/wmbs Heard on KHNC 1360 AM Johnstown/Denver, CO Cheyenne, WY Saturdays 7-8 AM MST Replay Sundays 5-6 PM MST https://1360khnc.com/

The gardening with Joey and Holly Radio Show heard weekly March - Oct Email your questions to Gardentalkradio@gmail.com Or call 24/7 leave your question at 1-800 927-SHOW https://thewisconsinvegetablegardener.com/ In segment 1 Joey and Holly talk about how to growing the best tomatoes Plant tomatoes deep Remove lower leaves Mulch Corn meal Consistent watering cage/stake ez step product Order now and receive a 3rd plant support absolutely free with purchase of a kit and use promo code: Joey 123 Keep lower leaves removed Remove suckers? Dealing with tomato hornworm When to harvest? In segment two Joey and Holly go over how to know if you have a good or bad nematodes Often referred to as roundworms, nematodes are not closely related to true worms. They are multicellular insects with smooth, unsegmented bodies. The nematode species that feed on plants are so tiny that you need a microscope to see them. The adults often look long and slender, although some species appear pear-shaped. These plant parasites are not the same roundworms as the filarial nematodes that infect the human body, spread diseases, and wreak havoc on the immune system. Some nematodes feed on the outer surfaces of a plant while others burrow into the tissue. Soil-dwelling nematodes are the most common culprits, but some species can damage plant roots, stems, foliage, and flowers. No matter where they feed, these tiny worms can seriously damage to crops with their sharply pointed mouths by puncturing cell walls. The real damage occurs when a nematode injects saliva into a cell from its mouth and then sucks out the cell contents. The plant responds to the parasitic worms with swelling, distorted growth, and dead areas. Nematodes can also carry viruses and bacterial diseases inject them into plants. The feeding wounds they make also provide an easy entrance point for bacteria and fungi. Beneficial nematodes that enrich the soil may feed on the decaying material, insects, or other nematodes. Being slender and transparent, they cannot often be seen by the naked eye. Other groups of worms may be confused with nematodes. ... With a few exceptions, if you can see an organism, with the naked eye, it is not a plant-parasitic nematode. Most nematodes are harmless, but a handful of troublesome species attack the outside surfaces of plants, burrowing into the plant tissue and causing root, stem, folar and even flower damage. Other nematodes live inside the plants for part of their lives, causing damage from the inside out Are nematodes harmful? While most of the thousands of nematode species on Earth are not harmful, some cause diseases in humans and other animals or attack and feed on living plants. ... Luckily, there are ways to deter these pesky pests from disrupting your garden soil Beneficial Nematodes are microscopic, non-segmented roundworms that occur naturally in soil throughout the world. Inside the nematode's gut is the real weapon — beneficial bacteria that when released inside an insect kill it within 24 to 48 hours ADD good nematodes The solution can be applied using a watering can, Hose End Sprayer, backpack or Pump Sprayer or through irrigation or misting systems. Mix nematodes into water and gently agitate. Apply when the sun is low on the horizon as the nematodes are photophobic and do not like direct light. What To Look For for bad nematodes Typical symptoms of nematode damage can appear above and below the ground in foliage and roots. Foliar symptoms generally appear in the form of stunting of plants, premature wilting, and leaf chlorosis (yellowing). Plants displaying these symptoms generally occur in patches rather than showing across an entire field, following the usual irregular distribution of nematodes in fields. Under heavy nematode infestation, crop seedlings or transplants may fail to develop, maintaining a stunted condition, or die, causing poor stand development. Under less severe pressure, symptom expression may be delayed until later in the crop season after a number of nematode cycles have been completed. In this case, the above-ground symptoms may not be as readily apparent. Root symptoms caused by sting or root-knot nematodes can present very noticeable symptoms. Sting nematodes can form a tight mat of short roots that often assume a swollen appearance. New roots are generally killed by heavy infestations of the sting nematode. Root-knot nematodes are characterized by the swollen areas on the roots called galls. Galls may range from a few swellings on roots to extensive areas covered, which are caused by exposure to multiple and repeated infections. Beneficial nematodes can be a great alternative to chemical pesticides, and a very effective addition to Integrated Pest Management (IPM) programs. However, beneficial nematodes are living organisms and using them for pest control does require accurate information, proper storage and shipping and careful application 1 Remove all vegetation from the area. Wet the soil , then cover it with two sheets of clear plastic to raise the temperature in the soil and kill the nematodes. Dig the edges of the plastic about 6 inches into the soil to keep it in place and hold in the moisture. Place the plastic during the hottest months of the summer, and leave it in place for four to six weeks. 2 Plant cool season crops rather than warm season crops. Nematodes are less active in the cooler months, so there is less chance they will damage plants. Plant nematode-resistant plants all year long to limit damage. Nematode resistance is indicated on the seed or plant label. 3 Amend soil with plenty of organic matter prior to planting. Till or dig the organic matter several inches into the soil . The organic matter will help suppress the nematodes and keep them from causing as much damage. 4 Keep contaminated areas of the garden from spreading. Do not move plants from infested areas into clean areas. Water infested areas separately so the runoff doesn't get into clean areas. Clean gardening tools with alcohol between uses to keep from transferring nematodes on the tools. 5 Water your plants frequently; don't let them dry out. Plants are more susceptible to nematodes if they are stressed from lack of water. 6 Allow the planting bed to lie fallow for one or two seasons. Water the planting area and keep it moist so the nematode eggs will hatch, but keep the planting zone free of weeds and other vegetation. If the nematodes hatch and have nothing to eat, they will die. 7 Remove plants and dig up the roots at the end of each growing season to remove the nematodes' food source. Dispose of the plant matter. Till the soil after removing the plants to dry the soil and expose the nematodes to sunlight, which kills them. Till the soil again every few weeks to dig up more of the nematodes and expose as many as possible before the next planting season. Beneficial Nematodes hunt down, penetrate, and kill most soil dwelling pests. They will remain effective for about 2 years, but annual applications are recommended. They will also attack over wintering adult insects, pupae, diapausing larvae, and grubs when they are in the soil, bark, or even ground litter. In segment three Joey and Holly welcome their guest Kelly D. Norris is one of the leading horticulturists of his generation. He is an award-winning author and plantsman and has a new book out - New Naturalism. https://kellydnorris.com/ 1. You have a passion for planting more natural plants - we have a lot of listeners who have small spaces and need to grow in pots - is there a way to grow in containers with more prairie or meadow style plants and have it look pleasing and not out of place? 2. A lot of people are buying houses right now and will often get a bunch of perennial plants with that house - I know many people feel bad if they want to change up the plants, or get rid of them and start fresh - why should people change their landscape of they want to - and what are some good classic perennials they should consider keeping? 3. You have a new book out this year - New Naturalism - can you tell us about something interesting or notable in the book and why our listeners would enjoy checking it out? 3b. If someone wants to add more wild or natural looking plants to their landscape but has a more neat and tidy aesthetic - what are some tips to change it up a bit but not have it look too much like a wild prairie? 4. I love botanical gardens and know attendance was up at many of them over the last year - for those who enjoy them, what is the best way to get the most out of your visit to them? 5. You have a whole book about bearded irises - A Guide to Bearded Irises - what are some great reasons to grow them? And why should our listeners check out that book? 6. How can our listeners find out more about you? In segment four Joey and Holly answer gardener's questions Q: Can old tires be used as raised beds? A: Most scientific studies thus far suggest that most of the health issues regarding tires arise when they are burned,Despite the fact that the EPA and Center for Disease Control have not found statistic links to health hazards from either intact tires or "crumb" products, studies are still underway and officials acknowledge that more data is required.many reputable organic gardening sources, such as Mother Earth News cautions against growing edibles in tires as a long-term practice. As they age, rubber tires do break down and release the same metals and chemicals that are known to be an immediate problem when tires are burned. However, this is an extremely slow process. The fact that tires break down so very slowly is why they pose such a notable problem in the environment, and it takes many decades for a tire to fully break down into its toxic components. Still, the process is underway to a small degree all the time. Q: Can you please advise me on what to put under trees. I did bark and landscape material under it as weeds grew through. I now planted ground cover under pictures I will send. Is this ok ??? Also under trees grass will not grow. Do I just plant ground cover? What are good green beans to plant? I don't want the flat pods. They were tough last season. Thanks for your program. A: Ground cover under your tree works well. Blue lake pole or bush beans are a great green bean - round and flavorful! Q: Looking to grow watermelon. I have failed many times, usually just end up with a small unripe melon. I am in zone 4b, is it too late already this season? What is the best method for actually getting to eat some? I am willing to try anything, but most of my growing is in a traditional garden bed. Thanks, A: Thank you for your question. a large watermelon in zone 4 and 5 where our gardens are located is near impossible. However several years ago we were able to grow and harvest a watermelon. It was a cream-of-Saskatchewan watermelon, we grew it in a straw bale. Saskatchewan watermelons are a white-fleshed round watermelon (5-10 lb.). Thin, brittle, pale green rind with dark green stripes. Flesh is very sweet with excellent flavor. One of the best home garden varieties for short season climates. Q: What was the product you mentioned on your show Sunday April 11th to get rid of Japanese beetles and grubs. A: Phyllom Bio products http://www.phyllombioproducts.com/ How do you prepare Jerusalem artichokes? I'm not sure I even know what those are! ? A. We put them in roast and bake them , you can eat them raw, we also cut them in thin chips, coat them with oil and air fry them as chips. They have a nutty and savory earthy like a cross between an artichoke heart and the best potato you've ever had. I would find someone who grows then to taste before just growing them to make The companies that make the show possible Proplugger of https://proplugger.com/ Rootmaker of https://myrootmaker.com/ Us coupon code Radio21 at checkout and save 15% of your order Chapin Manufacturing Inc. of https://chapinmfg.com/ Pomona pectin of https://pomonapectin.com/ Iv organics of https://ivorganics.com/ Dr. JimZ of https://drjimz.com/ Seed Savers Exchange of https://www.seedsavers.org/ Waterhoop of https://waterhoop.com/ Phyllom BioProducts of http://www.phyllombioproducts.com/home.html Happy leaf led of https://happyleafled.com/ Dripworks of https://www.dripworks.com/ Deer defeat https://deerdefeat.com/ use code Radio at check out to save 10% on your order Blue ribbon organics http://blueribbonorganics.com/ Chip Drop of https://getchipdrop.com/ Walton's Inc of https://www.waltonsinc.com/ Tree Diaper of http://www.treediaper.com/ Janie's Mill of https://www.janiesmill.com/ Nature's Lawn and Garden Inc of https://www.natureslawn.com/gardentalk can get 10% off on Aerify Plus by using this link Simply Earth of https://simplyearth.com/ Quick Snap Sprinklers of https://www.quick-snap.com/ Timber Pro Coatings of https://timberprocoatingsusa.com/products/internal-wood-stabilizer/ Bloomin easy plants of https://bloomineasyplants.com/ Tiger Torch of https://www.tigertorchltd.com/ Seedlinked of https://www.seedlinked.com/ Iron Wood Tool Company of https://www.ironwoodtools.com/ Natural green products of https://www.natgreenproducts.com/ EZ Step Products of https://ezstepproducts.com/ Rinsekit Of https://rinsekit.com/ Rincon Vitova of https://www.rinconvitova.com/ Wild Delight of https://www.wilddelight.com/ Bale buster of https://strawbalegardens-com.myshopify.com/collections/balebuster-bale-preparation-formula Soul brew kombucha of https://mysoulbrew.com/ Rescue of https://rescue.com/ Yard Glider of https://yardglider.com/ Piper and leaf of https://piperandleaf.com/ Heard on Joy 1340 AM & 98.7 FM Milwaukee, WI Saturdays 7-8 AM CST Replay Saturdays 7-8 PM CST https://tunein.com/radio/Joy-1340-s30042/ Heard on WCRN 830 AM Westborough/Boston, MA Saturdays 8-9 AM EST Replay Sundays 5-6 AM EST https://tunein.com/radio/WCRN-AM-830-Full-Service-Radio-s1112/ Heard on KYAH 540 AM Delta/Salt Lake City, UT Saturdays 1-2 PM MST Reply Sundays 1-2 PM MST https://tunein.com/radio/KYAH-540-s34223/ Heard on KDIZ 1570 AM Minneapolis, MN Saturdays 4-5 PM and replay Sundays 2-3 PM CST http://player.listenlive.co/57071 Heard on WAAM 1600 AM & 92.7 FM Ann Arbor, MI Sundays 7-8 AM EST https://tinyurl.com/p68cvft Heard on WOGO 680 AM & 103.1 FM Chippewa Falls, WI Sundays 9-10 AM CST https://onlineradiobox.com/us/wogo/ Heard on KFEQ 680 AM & 107.9 FM St. Joseph/Kansas City, MO Saturdays 6-7 AM replay Sundays 10-11 AM CST http://www.680kfeq.com/live-stream/ Heard on WNAX 570 AM Yankton SD Sundays 10-11 AM CST bonus play Saturdays 2-3 PM CST (when twins baseball is not on) https://wnax.com/ Heard on WMBS 590 AM & 101.1 FM Uniontown/Pittsburgh/Morgantown PA. Saturday 6-7 AM EST replay Mondays 6-7 PM https://www.radio.net/s/wmbshttps://www.radio.net/s/wmbs Heard on KHNC 1360 AM Johnstown/Denver, CO Cheyenne, WY Saturdays 7-8 AM MST Replay Sundays 5-6 PM MST https://1360khnc.com/

In this episode Charlie interviews regen farming's powerhouse couple Mitch & Nina Bray. Charlie caught up with Mitch and Nina at their Noosa Hinterland farm midway through an Introduction to Biodynamics workshop that they were hosting. It was a lively conversation and is in fact the 'first' couple Charlie has interviewed for the podcast. Prior to meeting Mitch and Nina had led interesting and quite different lives. On meeting their pathways transected & their regenerative journey together began. Through environmental and health challenges they have been transitioning from conventional to regenerative cattle, crop and vegetable farming with great success. Episode Takeaways :  Bought property in Noosa hinterland in response to a changing climate and seasonal pattern at their property at Ellangowan near Toowoomba in SE Qld, presents the opportunity to grow more food with the greater rainfall, and also presents challenges | Have a licence to grow hemp | Great rapport with a very like minded community on the coast, found their tribe | Together since 2010, Nina is a trained nurse and grew up on a farm, Mitch diesel fitter, who’s family is originally from Condobolin | Started on his small block with Nina | Underlining urge to farm even though both had chosen careers away from farming | Started with an independent agronomist and in the conventional farming space - with sheep, then cattle however due to flooding and trashing of fences decided to focus on cropping | The birth of their first child was the catalyst for change as Nina realised that her choices had far reaching impacts on her family and this was also true for their farming choices | Gained Organic certification for their home farm in 2014-15 which was essentially a trial block using more natural practices | Transitioned half their farm first | First organic crop was wheat | Organic corn out yielding conventional corn | An organic farm can still yield in dry years when conventional might struggle to produce, and in the dry years prices are better | Input costs are lower than conventional | Liquid injection great technique to add inputs | They won the Allan Brimblecombe Shield for the Highest Yielding Variety in a Cotton Seed Distributors (CSD) Variety Dryland Trial 2017 - 2018 | 11.7 bales/ha using their more natural biological inputs like fish and kelp emulsions and compost teas | ‘Less inputs more often’ is a principle that has worked well for them | They are growing on corn, soy sorghum, wheat barley millet, vetch, mung beans on their organic farm | The have tried ‘Relay Cropping’-eg sowing a legume into an already established wheat crop | Tip for farmers wanting to transition to more natural farming practices-stop expecting a clean paddock, managing a mixed of plants has benefits for nutrition and beneficial insects | They use Integrated Pest Management (IPM) techniques to manage insect pests | Livestock are great at targeting unwanted plants in a cropping rotation system | Nina uses homeopathics on the cattle, trough dose-NZ business called Simillimum Health and Homeopathy | They use Buffalo fly traps and a ‘Bos Bag’ w diatomaceous earth | Cattle often get a shower in the yards of saline water, and they also use sulfur to help manage buffalo fly and ticks | Dung beetles came back when they removed much of the synthetic chemicals out of their system | Their Noosa Hinterland farm is 400ac and in conversion to organic now | They both attended our Introduction to Biodynamics workshop in 2018 where their love and use of Biodynamics on their farms started | In 2018 Mitch was very sick, having suffered an occlusion (similar to a stroke), and his speech and movement was impacted - he was in bed for 3 months, and too no medications – Mitch did everything naturally | Biodynamics makes your farms vibrant. Its energetic, palpable and you can almost feel the life force that comes from using Biodynamics | Biodynamics is a way of life. You can’t un-see it once you have seen it. Mitch and Nina think that whatever they grow someone will be healthier from it | Biodynamics is about growing together and working together | They don't believe you have to be a purist to incorporate Biodynamics into your farming practice. Episode Links:  Bray Farms - Mitch & Nina Bray website  FB - Bray Farms  IG - Bray Farms / IG -  The Beach Farm, Noosa  Introduction to Biodynamics Workshops | Charlie Arnott & Hamish Mackay Biodynamics - Short read | Charlie Arnott  Integrated Pest Management (IPM)  Simillimum Health and Homeopathy - NZ animal health company Bos bag - Fly control measure  John Feahan  - Australian dung beetle expert  Kandanga Farm Store -  Mary Valley, Sunshine Coast QLD  

Houseplants are as popular as ever right now, with many people spending a lot more time at home and craving the warmth and natural touches plants bring. Sometimes, us houseplant enthusiasts can even go a little overboard, bringing too many plants home and sometimes giving those plants a little too much TLC.In this episode of Granite State Gardening, Lake Street Garden Center greenhouse manager Nichole Keyes joins UNH Extension's Emma Erler and Nate Bernitz to exchange tips for choosing the right houseplants for your home and helping your indoor garden thrive. They also get into their personal favorites, houseplant shopping tips and predictions for popular houseplants in 2021. Featured question: fertilizing houseplants Featured plant: ZZ plant (Zamioculcas zamiifolia) Closing tip: Cleaning houseplant leaves IPM tip: Controlling aphids Connect with us at @askunhextension on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter and subscribe to the monthly Granite State Gardening newsletter. Email us questions, suggestions and feedback at gsg.pod@unh.eduBackground reading:UNH Extension's houseplant resources: https://extension.unh.edu/tags/house-plantsLake Street Garden Center: https://www.lakestreet.com/TRANSCRIPTNate B  0:00  Welcome to the Granite State gardening podcast from UNH Cooperative Extension. On today's show, Emma and I speak with Nicole Keyes, the greenhouse manager at Lake St. garden center in Salem, New Hampshire. Our conversation is wide ranging, including assessing your home's growing conditions, best growing practices, how to be a smart shopper, personal favorites and predictions for hot foliage houseplants and 2021. By the end of this episode, I guarantee you'll be inspired to grow some new plants because Emma and Nicole's enthusiasm and knowledge just rubs off. And y'all have a few new tips and tricks for your next house plant shopping outing to your favorite local garden center.Greetings, Granite State gardeners. I'm Nate bernitz joined as always by horticulturist and UNH extension field specialist, Emma Erler. And today by Nichole keyes.Nicole, I'm excited to hear some industry insider knowledge from you today. But I'd love to start by getting to know you. Tell us a little bit about yourself.Nicole K  1:14  I work at Lake Street garden center in Salem, New Hampshire. It's a small family owned business. It's been open since the 70s. I'm born and raised from Salem. So I used to go there with my grandfather, like as a child walking through the greenhouses. And when I was old enough to work he he knew the owner pretty well and kind of like gave me a little push and was like go ask for a job. Because I knew I was interested in plants and I love the outdoors. And I'm definitely a nature girl. So I started as a cashier there and just I didn't even know the difference between a Petunia and a philodendron. Back then just being there and and starting to learn I really my passion kind of developed. I've been there 18 years on and off through my life. So it's been a pretty cool journey. It's it's pretty unique that to be a part of still like family run business. Nate B  2:10  Well, I know Emma shares your passion for scientific names for for the Latin. So let's start there. Why is that important?Emma E  2:20  Well, I guess I'll say it's, it's really important because common names can be misleading. It can be misguiding there. In many cases, there are multiple different common names that can be applied to the same plant. And in some cases, two different plants will have the same common name. So if you're using the Latin name, you're being as precise as you can possibly be. And any gardener, any botanist that you're talking to, is going to know exactly which plant you're speaking of and use that Latin name versus a common name. Because to a certain extent that can really be regional as well with what people will call a certain plant. Nate B  3:01  Nicole, do you find that customers sometimes come in and they're asking about one plant, but maybe thinking of another? Or like really kind of actually practical examples where this really comes into play? Nicole K  3:15  Absolutely. I think it's something I deal with on a regular basis and echo everything that Emma said, it's a lot easier for me, when a customer comes in knowing what plant plant they they're, that they're referring to. And like I've noticed, too, that with the trends online today, and like there's a lot of online sales going on all over the internet, and a lot of people are making up common names or coming up with cooler more funky names for plants and customers will come in like, do you have devils IV, and I'm like, what's a devil's IV and it's 1000 I've never heard it called Devil's IV in my life. And so like Google's my best friend today, when it comes to that, I have to do a lot of research online to kind of keep up with the trends and also to be able to educate the customer when we do figure out what they're referring to, you know that the scientific name of the plant and and I've noticed to a lot of the clientele that we have come in, they really do want to know you know, they they want to learn they want to learn the actual names of the plants and and there's this just this huge interest in foliage and houseplants in general. That's up and coming. It's just it's I'm excited to see it happen because it's you know, it's what I love.Nate B  4:48  So when someone is asking about something like Devil's Ivy, is it that that's just a pure rebranding of something that's otherwise actually a pretty common plant or Might that sometimes be referring to a new cultivars? Or is it some of both depending on the situation, Nicole K  5:07  it can definitely be both. There's, there's a lot of new varieties, you know, plants are getting hybridized. And, and all the time. And so I'm find myself like I have to keep up with the different varieties of plants that are being sold and marketed and, and branding to is, is a huge thing. Because a plant that might be called like there's, there's a brand there like Angel plants and it's a trademark and customer will come in looking for that Angel plants, when really it could be a host of all different types of terrarium plants and indoor foliage that are sold in these little cube pots by one company. And they call them a certain thing like exotic angels and, and so I have to kind of differentiate too. And it happens not just with houseplants either like in the spring, it when we buy things in, there's tags in these plants from all different sources and companies. And if they're not read note that they don't know how to read the plant tag properly, they can think that they're calling the plant what it is when actually it's it's a trademark or a brand of the plant.Nate B  6:32  Is there any standardization to what's on those labels?Nicole K  6:37  Usually, they all look different. But most of the time the Latin name of the plant is down at the bottom of the tag. And of course, the brand or company will be in big, beautiful, bold letters across the top of it above the picture. So a lot of the times you have to and sometimes even on the back, you have to flip it over. And then when the lettering at the bottom, it says you know the the true Latin name of the plant. So yes,Nate B  7:06  so we've got these really specific plants science, scientific name, genus species. But if we take a step back Emma, what do you see as the broad categories within foliage house plants?Emma E  7:20  Gosh, you know what? A good question. I mean, broad categories, I'd say First off, I mean, you have vining plants. So perhaps somebody who's looking for something that's trailing, that has, you know, long stems, not necessarily twining, but something that that would have more of a drooping characteristic. Then you also have, you know, a whole broad variety of different foliage types, and different plants within those categories. So for example, I would probably include ferns in foliage plants and ferns are a class their own, then you've got a whole variety of different tropicals that have different needs. So there's a whole bunch of different really cool house plants that are in this foliage plant group that are in the Aram family arrowheads. So that's one group. And then you've got poms, like I mentioned, or actually, I didn't mention palms before, but you got palms and you've got all sorts of other interesting tropicals. Outside of that, too, I mean, you could probably be considering some of the other flowering plants in this foliage plant group as well. Some orchids have really beautiful foliage, and they're grown expressly for their foliage. And some of the bromeliads too, are grown just for their foliage. We're unlikely oftentimes to actually get blooms on them indoors in our homes, but they can be really lovely. So foliage house plants, that's really an artificial distinction that we're making. Right? Maybe it's an industry distinction. It's certainly not an academic distinction. It's, I think, referring to plants that are sold primarily for their foliage, as opposed to some other characteristic. Is that how you see it, Nicole? Nicole K  9:07  Yeah, I mean, it. My greenhouse at this point in time is kind of split between two we have foliage plants, which are mostly, I mean, nowadays, they're not just green. foliage plants come in a host of beautiful colors, which is really cool. But blooming and non blooming or foliage. plants is kind of like how I would generalize it. Emma E  9:36  Yeah, and I guess what I would probably separate out there to are the succulents because it's, they're different. Totally different needs in many cases. And I think in some regards, succulents are maybe waning slightly in popularity, just because a lot of people don't have the growing conditions they need in their homes in order to be able to grow them successful.Nicole K  10:00  Fully, I agree with that. I separate them entirely from everything else in the greenhouse because they, they do need full direct beating sunlight and to be run really dry. And a lot of the times customers will see pictures on Pinterest or in magazines with these beautiful succulent dish gardens like sitting in the corner of a bathroom or in the middle of a living room on a coffee table in these really impractical situations thinking that they can do that too. And I have to be the bearer of bad news. But I can make other suggestions. But um, but yeah, I I've seen a spike in popularity in low light foliage plants and a little bit of a decline when it comes to cactus and succulents. Nate B  10:53  Well, you can't necessarily blame people because if you go into a store, maybe it's a big box store or something else. And they have succulents that are out for display and for sale in growing conditions that wouldn't support them long term, you might think, okay, like you can grow them anywhere there with all these other plants. I mean, you would have a better insight or perspective on this. But I suppose you can have any plant in sub optimal growing conditions for some period of time, but eventually they need to be put into more optimal growing conditions.Nicole K  11:31  Yes, yeah. And and yeah, I don't I don't blame the masses. Certainly not. There's so much false advertising out there. I consider myself somewhat of a plant advocate. I would say that, in regards to placing plants in areas where it might not be optimal for them, plants are super resilient. And a lot of the times they'll struggle for a long time before you can actually kill a plant. So there will be signs and symptoms that come up. But for a good while when you get a plant home, it's not going to really tell you yet if it if it needs to be somewhere else. Emma E  12:25  I think what the you know why people are so interested in say succulents and cacti is just because they're so different from anything you'd see growing in the wild in New Hampshire. And they're really unique, interesting forms. When I first got really interested in plants as a little kid, that's exactly what I wanted to grow. I had a whole bunch of cacti, I had some Jade plants, one of which I still have. And yeah, I was lucky in that my parents, at least at their house had a really bright south facing picture window that I was able to keep my plants in and actually a little greenhouse where things could be in the summertime as well. So I feel like it's almost more of a refinement, I guess, for me to be branching out and looking at some more of these some different plants and focusing more on foliage instead of just really interesting forms that succulents have.Nate B  13:22  So you've both talked about how there's this trend towards, quote unquote, low light plants. Let's talk about low light. Are there any plants that actually thrive in low light? Or is it more of a tolerance and what is meant by low light is low light, just meaning that it's not direct sun? Does low light mean that it can be in a dark corner of a room? What is the distinction between these plants that tolerate or thrive in low light, whatever you say there, versus a plant that has higher light requirements.Nicole K  13:59  I described this all the time at my job because it's a really it's a, there's a lot of confusion around low light, bright, light, direct light, indirect light. And and so the way I usually describe it is plants that thrive in lower light don't necessarily need to be up against a window or in necessarily a brightly lit room. There aren't really any plants that are going to thrive in no light at all, but certain plants like Sansa various snake plant, some philodendrons poffo there's there's quite a few foliage type plants that will do well in the corner of a room or set into the middle of a room that may only have one or two windows and not get sun beating in bright light, in my opinion would be still indirect so not where the sun beets in in warms the area, but a room that's lit up throughout the day from natural light. So there are other types of plants that sometimes get confused with lower light plants but do need more indirect bright light, especially flowering houseplants like begonias or orchids, bromeliads, some types of older plants, like ponytail, palms and shift flera. And sometimes some of those plants can tolerate a broad scale of of that without really showing you, you know that it's too unhappy. SoNate B  15:43  how do you help people evaluate their growing spaces and understand where something fits in like, someone is looking at a north facing window, and they just don't know like, is this good for low light, am I getting more than what I need here, or a corner of the room that sometimes they just kind of walk by, and notice that it's lit up, but it's not like they're standing there with a timer, kind of keeping track of exactly how much light it's getting? Is, are there some other pointers that you might have for evaluating the amount of light a particular space gets?Nicole K  16:22  Yeah, so I'm, I'm kind of a quirky person. So I have these little phrases that I use sometimes. Because a customer will often think that they have full sun in their house, when really, it's just a lot of bright, indirect light. So in differentiating that, I will usually use this phrase of where the kitty would lay, like, where the sun actually beats in that little spot on the floor where it heats up. And I'll say that directly, because people understand that, you know, they can picture that one spot where like the kitty would snuggle. So, I use that oftentimes, and it works pretty well. Or I try to stray away from the directional usage is far as evaluating I mean, it is a good rule of thumb. But most of the time, people don't really know which side of their house is north and south. And unless you sit with a compass and figure it all out, I'm more of a visual learner myself. And so I'll I'll prompt them with questions, you know, between 10 and two is really the most intense part of the day in regards to sunshine. So if they have a window that's lit up until only about, say, 10 or 11 o'clock, in my opinion, that's morning sun that's bright, indirect light. So I kind of use time references with them. And and what it looks like in that room around that time to try and make suggestions of what plants might do well there.Emma E  17:57  I'll say to that, very few plants in my collection, would actually show signs of stress or injury from being closer to a window than I have them. I mean, certainly cold in the wintertime can be an issue with having if you have a drafty window, but in terms of light exposure itself, even my plants that will tolerate low light, are usually happier if I can have them closer to the window as opposed to further away. Probably the only real exception I'd say here is for things that that really like a lower light situation. I'm thinking of say like ferns, I probably wouldn't put my ferns in a really dark place or sorry, in a really bright place like a southern facing window, where it would get really warm. But other than that, oftentimes when I moved my other house plants outdoors in the summer, yeah, like today on their summer vacations.Nicole K  18:55  Windows Sun is lower in the winter than it is in the summer. So if you if you get all these foliage plants in the winter, or you're you know, you're exploring houseplants for the first time, say now and you have these plants in an area just like you said, the sun's actually going to change as to where the intensity is in your house. And so your plants might need to move around in the in the summer and take a little vacation. I like how you put that. My I have a big window in the kitchen, where I have all my little succulents and then they have to go over into the living room in the summer because the sun is totally different. And those two spots,Nate B  19:39  do different house plants have different temperature requirements, or are pretty much all that plants sold and advertised as house plants going to tolerate general and typical household temperatures.Nicole K  19:53  I find that temperature really only is an issue below. See 55 degrees, most plants 55 and up unless it's a you have woodstove, really hot, dry house. If there's a vent, a heat vent blowing in a certain area, those are types of temperatures that are more extreme that could negatively affect the plants that you have there. And then they're also on the other end, there are certain plants that through fall in winter, do like a cooler period, like flowering cyclamen is a big popular flowering plants for Christmas time. And they actually prefer cool temperatures are like a drafty window. And especially at night, they they like to be about 10 degrees cooler, and they do a lot better in that kind of setting. And then there are plants that like a lot of people are into growing fruiting things, edible fig. And what they don't realize is figs go dormant. So they lose all their leaves in September, and they're just these sticks and people think their figs have died. And they really want a cool dormancy period. So they want to be put in, you know, a garage or a basement, they don't need much light, a little bit of water here and there and they instinctually when the day start lengthening, they'll actually push their leaves out and start growing and then you can eventually after frost get them outside. But so there are specific things for certain niches of plants, but for the most part, I will say that, like is benjamina weeping Ficus. They're finicky when it comes to anything drafty or too hot or too, they just like shed all their leaves if they're unhappy. But what most people don't realize is the plants not actually dead. And those guys can completely defoliate and then push new growth in a pretty short amount of time, if you're watering it properly.Nate B  22:01  So you talked about a few examples. Most of them were non foliage plants, like fig or flat flowering cyclamen, you did give the one example of the Ficus but generally it sounds like foliage, house plants are pretty accommodating of normal household temperatures. I think sometimes people ask about temperature because they might be confusing temperature with humidity. In New England, warmer temperatures mean higher humidity, so people may be associating the two. I was speaking with someone a couple days ago, who I think was making that exact assumption. They were thinking that because I was recommending higher humidity for their ferns, they thought the solution was just to increase the temperature.Emma E  22:51  Yeah, not the same thing there. Although you're right, the air can hold more moisture when it is warmer, versus when it's cooler. So if your home is warmer and you have some source of humidity, whether that means a pebble tray near your plants or whether that means actually having a humidifier, you are able to going to be able to keep that that humidity up a little bit more humidity is is really important when it comes to growing houseplants there are certain things that I frankly can't grow in my house because I don't have a humidifier and I don't go out of my way to increase the humidity around plants. I have tried many times to be able to grow prayer plant and they just really don't like my home and I I'm not helping them out because the humidity is too low. Like you mentioned with the the trailing Ficus though a lot of times they will my prayer pylint will come back it'll look terrible winner and then when it gets warmer in the summer it will start to look a little bit better. But it's not the most attractive plant to have in my home in the winter months.Nicole K  24:07  I was laughing to myself over here when he talked about prayer plant because anything in the Columbia family and Miranda family in general they just I'm the same way I'm not gonna I mean a pebble tree is pretty easy. I noticed you mentioned that and just for people listening that don't know what that is, you can actually take a saucer and put a layer of rock or gravel in the saucer and fill it up with water just to the rock and and set the plant there so the plants not actually setting in the water. The water is evaporating up around the general area of the plant and it will raise the relative humidity for the plants itself. And I'm I have so many plants and I just if I if I if I put it where it needs to go and it's not going to do its thing I just grab a new plant because I have the leisure to do That was a profession but I have one coap in my bathroom that's a little brown around the edges but it's it's doing okay and it's pushed new leaves and it's not super happy but that's the most human place I have in my house. And to match the lighting in that room with the humidity is I had to find the correct plant for it, but it's a it's a calafia mosaica which is has this really cool patterning that almost looks like pixelated it's it's a really neat plant but so I was attached to having it no matter what. So that is the one. But other than that I I can't keep them alive for the life of me. It's what I do for a living.Nate B  25:54  house plant pests don't stand a chance when Rachel Maccini spots them. And as UNH extensions pesticide safety education coordinator, she knows you can't control what you don't scout. Now for Rachel's Integrated Pest Management IPM for short featured tip.Rachel Maccini  26:10  One of the most prevalent pests of houseplants are the aphids. These are small, soft bodied pear shaped insects that seem to come from nowhere. They prefer to feed on the new growth of the plants by inserting their mouth parts into the plant and extracting the plant juices. This feeding often results in yellowing and misshapen In addition, the growth of the plant may be stunted and new developing plant buds are often to form also as a phosphine. They excrete a sugary substance we call honeydew. This makes the plant's leaves shiny and sticky. This honeydew becomes a medium for fungus constantly mold to grow, which creates unsightly dark splotches on the plant surfaces. with minor infestations of aphids, you can handpick you can spray with water, or you can wipe the insects with a cotton swab dipped in rubbing alcohol. If there is a major infestation a pesticide maybe warranted.Nate B  27:16  what are some other techniques for increasing the humidity in your home or at least in a particular area of your home to support plants? And can you give some more examples of house plants kind of across the spectrum from plants that don't have humidity requirements and will tolerate pretty much anything even the driest conditions in your house in the winter time to the plants that are maybe the most finicky. And really only for houseplant enthusiasts that are planning on taking significant steps to support their humidity requirements.Nicole K  27:51  I yeah, so I'm I can speak, right there's there's certain plants that you know, we sell pretty regularly. And I and I have tried to broaden our inventory. As I've as I've been in charge of the greenhouse department at Lake Street. So I'm more keen to know about certain plants and there may be some that I'm I'm just not as familiar with. But I'm definitely a driver dry and arid, obviously cactus and succulents. We we mentioned do okay. Shift Lera, I've found it's also called umbrella tree, they tend to be pretty tolerant of drier house settings, there's quite a few it seems like there, there's there's less that that need that that higher humidity than then others. So air plants is a is another one of those categories we were talking about to lancea that is really popular now. And they're they're cute little plants that don't need soil and you can tuck them in all kinds of things and put them in glass and put them in phases and put them in your bathroom and hang them everywhere. But the only way that they absorb the water that they need is through a very fine mist or humidity. in the air. They have these tiny, tiny little hairs all over them. And that's how they absorb you can actually soak them underwater and submerge them which is what I usually recommend people do when they buy them from me because of the fact that they they're not necessarily in the human requirements that they need. So you're kind of giving them what they need in a dose of bath for an hour once once or twice a week. Another thing that I try to decipher with customers if they're just using a regular squirt bottle, oftentimes the droplets are not a fine enough Miss for the plant to actually absorb So there's a lot of recommendations that I'm seeing online in forums and websites and things of missing, missing, missing missing. And you're not really doing too much because those those big droplets are going to evaporate faster than your plant is going to absorb them. We do sell, there's there's certain mysteries you can get that are floral grade and are more of a fine mist. And missing can definitely help with certain things. Like calafia, we were talking about prayer plant, air plants, bromeliads, I think or another one that like that really humid environment. And was there anything else you can think of and add to,Emma E  30:48  I'd say outside of the misting, because I think a lot of times missing for most people probably isn't going to be adequate for really increasing humidity around plants. Because unless you're home all day, and getting up and missing the plant, let's say every 15 minutes, they're still going to be pretty darn dry. And most of us aren't going to do that. Right? I know, I won't, I'll maybe think of it once a day. And that's not nearly enough. So if you're really trying to grow a lot of things that that do like higher humidity, I think it's probably worthwhile to actually get a humidifier. And to set that up in the room where you have those plants nearby, you don't want necessarily moisture to be collecting on the leaves of the plants. And if it's a humidifier, that's that's sending out hot steam, you also don't want that to be hitting foliage, but you do just you want that air to have more of a humid feel. And then there are certain things that just really appreciate more of a greenhouse environment for a lot of tropicals that do really need that humid environment, because they're there from, you know, a really wet rain forest environment, probably looking at 70 80%, humidity, you know, maybe even 90%. Whereas in our home, so probably the best we're gonna get is maybe 50%.Nate B  32:14  So that's in a bathroom.Emma E  32:18  Yeah, probably in a bathroom with a humidifier setup nearby in the winter months, it's probably going to be more likely closer to 30. If you are in a home with, you know, the furnace running wood stove going. But I think that's, you know, like we've already touched on, I think it just helps to, to recognize what the conditions are in your home and pick things that aren't going to be real fussy. And I think that's where it's helpful to talk to the staff. At the garden center, you're going to where you're going to pick up a plant and, and just be frank about what the conditions are like in your home.Nate B  32:55  I see there being somewhat of a spectrum where maybe on the lowest and we're talking about a place in your home, that not only is not humid, but also maybe next to a radiator, just getting pounded with hot dry air. And then you go to just a normal spot in your home. It's not humid in a special way. But it's also not getting hit with hot dry heat. And then maybe your kitchen right above your sink, there might be a little bit more humidity in your bathroom, there might be a little bit more humidity depending on how often people are showering and stuff like that in the house. And then for the enthusiasts, you might be adding a humidifier into the mix or even some sort of more managed growing chamber. Do you see a lot of houseplant enthusiasts actually going to that level and going beyond just conditions that they can create in their house and really introducing managed conditions with terrarium and other enclosures?Nicole K  33:58  Yes, and more so I think in the past six or seven months than ever before. I i there are a lot of people coming in talking about you know, indoor greenhouses and plant shelves and people are home now. You know, a lot of people are in their house and and they want plants because I think it's actually like an instinctual thing that we're coming into this trend because us as a society we're spending so much more time in the house and there's like this craving for nature right? And, and so people just want that atmosphere in their home. I can't tell you how many times I've had customers come in and say I'm making a home office now and I want plants for it. It's a it's a pretty common thing. Recently and and a lot of plant enthusiasts that that we do have a lot of regular customers and really cool plant people that come in and and they have this whole setup in their house with the humidifier and the grow lights and the whole nine yards and and so yeah, I do see a lot of that we don't sell that level of equipment at Lake Street so on there just to help help them you know, pick out what what they've gotten and decipher what they're doing. But a lot of people are pretty self informed. And when it comes to this stuff and, and, and very, very enthusiastic about their houseplants and taking care of them perfectly, I wanted to touch on something that Emma had said about her goldfish plant, it just made me think and this is kind of relative to what we're talking about. She she had described how in the winter, her goldfish plant loses some of its leaves, it doesn't look necessarily the most beautiful. And then in the summer, it's lush, it's full, it pushes new growth, and that's the case kind of with a lot of different plants is it's okay sometimes to lose a leaf or two here and there. Sometimes things defoliate and then regrow plants are just like us, you know, and they're definitely not perfect. And sometimes I get I get a lot of people who like one brown leaf and they come in like my plant is dying and like it's okay, I can help you. I have customers take pictures, email me, you know, describe what's going on bring in a leaf in a bag if they think that there's some type of disease or insect. But a lot of the times it's pretty regular to have some level of I don't want to call it ugliness because plants are awesome. But that defoliation or browning leaves or a little bit of brown tips on the end, especially when it comes to not having the perfect conditions because most of these plants are tropical. And they are from rain forests. And we live in New England. And, and we're trying to keep them in a tiny little pot in our house to admire so it's definitely something to consider that it's okay. And and a lot of the times still they'll survive even though they're they're not thriving at the moment. And there may be certain times in the year where they they do better than others.Nate B  37:26  I appreciate the house plant positivity I guess it's like if you find a gray hair or have something or have a headache or something, it's not the end of the world. It's It's okay.Emma E  37:40  All note too that anybody who's been keeping houseplants for a long time is probably killed a lot of house plants as well. I have certainly killed enough house plants. In the years I've been keeping them and through a lot of that I've learned not only just from the mistakes I've made with those certain plants, I have learned more about what they actually need. And I've you know, frankly learn which things are going to be able to survive and the conditions I can give them in my home and what plants are going to tolerate the care that I can provide. I'm one of these more negligent waters so I will often water less than my plants would probably prefer. And so I've figured out you know exactly what's gonna tolerate my schedule.Nicole K  38:30  I'm the exact same way with my house plants, they they just barely survive sometimes. Also, during the busy season, my houseplants take a hit because I'm I'm at the greenhouse most of the time. But it's actually especially in the winter it's almost a benefit to be light handed water. The number one killer of houseplants from what I've seen in this industry is over watering it's just too much love and and and oftentimes customers will think the plant is drying out to the level it needs to because it looks that way from the top. Um, but really those last few inches of soil in that pot make a huge difference and and being an underwater is more beneficial to your plants than than an overwater for sure a plant is going to come back a lot quicker from from being a little too dry than it ever will be from from over watering and rotting.Nate B  39:34  Emma from a scientific academic perspective, can you explain and demystify why overwatering leads to plant suffering. From a common sense perspective, it almost doesn't make sense but we see it time and time again that plants do suffer from over watering what is actually happening there.Emma E  39:55  So we know that plants are taking water up through their roots, right so it would seem Yeah, more would be better. But really what's also happening with plant roots is that they're also taking in oxygen, the top part of a plant is doing photosynthesis, all those green parts, and you probably know that plants take in carbon dioxide, and then release oxygen. So the top part of the plant is using limited oxygen only when it switches over to that burning energy phase of respiration. But that's solely what's happening in roots respiration. So oxygen needs to be able to get into the root system of the plant. When we water too much. Basically, what we're doing is drowning the roots, the plant is not getting the oxygen it needs. And in many cases, you kill the plant, just by doing that alone by drowning it. There's also the potential when you're creating this overly wet environment, that you're going to have issues with actual fungal pathogens, and experience rot and decay in those roots. So too much is not a good thing. You know, same same for anything else, I guess whether it's with people, animals, I mean, there's a limit. So getting the watering, right is what you need to do. Now, all this being said, there are plants that are adapted, obviously, to live in the water. Usually, we're not growing those indoors, these would be things that you'd be putting more into like a pond situation or maybe even growing in a fish tank or something similar. Not that you couldn't grow them indoors, we just don't usually do it. But most of the the terrestrial plants that you're going to be growing things that you're going to be picking up at the greenhouse, are not going to appreciate too much water, being lighter with the water is important.Nate B  41:52  What are the other factors besides actually how often you're watering on whether plants are going to suffer from over watering? I'm thinking possibilities might include the potting mix that you're using, how much water it's retaining how well it's draining, and maybe the container you're using, too. What do you think about that, Nicole?Nicole K  42:12  Yeah, all of those things you listed are definitely factors. As far as the potting medium, or potting soil that you're using, you definitely want to look for something that's nice and light and fluffy. Like Emma said roots need gas exchange, we don't usually wouldn't necessarily think that. But when I first learned that when I was being trained as a water, it finally made sense to me. You know, when you open that bag of potting soil, you want to be able to dive your fingers right in there. If it takes two hands for you to pick up that bag of potting soil, you might want to reconsider the brand that you're paying per light. If those little white specks in your potting soil, it's actually pumicestone it creates those little spaces, those air pockets that roots need. And then you know there's other plants that don't that might need more specific soil medium like orchids, want to be in a bark mixture. They're epiphytes, they grow on trees naturally. So when we stuffed them in a pot, we need to accommodate them and in some way and the size of the container is huge. I see a lot of people they see a plant they really like and they come in looking for it. And they already have a pot picked out because they love the pot the pot is pretty and it matches their house and but that pot might not necessarily be the correct size for the plant that we have that you want or that you're buying. So a plants there, especially in the winter, they they they like to be a little more rootbound a little tighter in the pot. If you're buying a plant, say a four inch or six inch plant, those are common sizes that are sold all over. You don't want to bump it up into anything bigger than say a six or an eight inch two inches bigger. I i've if you if you the more soil you have, the more moisture you have, the more chance you have of killing that plant. That's kind of how I put it in layman's terms to customers. The type of container to I I keep all my plants in my house and the plastic grower pots. I want a pretty pot, I'll find one that I can set that plastic pot into. I water a lot of my plants at the sink and then put them back where they are just for the sake of not having saucers everywhere and just the setup that I have. It's not really necessary but that's kind of how I do things but I I find the plastic it's air rated at the Bottom it allows the plants to dry out that how they need to. Next Level Up would be terracotta, like non glazed clay. And then glazed pottery dry, it's it takes a plant a plant a lot longer to dry out, say in a clay pot that's glazed because it's not porous, especially if it's ways on the inside or all the way up the rim. And so you, you want to take that into consideration.Nate B  45:33  And it goes without saying that you need drainage holes on the bottom there are a lot of pots that are sold that don't have drainage holes. So I guess that might be useful if you're tucking that plastic pot into it. But I recently learned how to drill holes into pots using a hollow drill bit it worked really well said buying cheap pots, and they're partially cheap, I think because they didn't have holes in the bottom and putting holes in myself that worked really well.Nicole K  46:00  I i've never yet we don't have one of those bits, but I sort of wish we did because the sales manager oftentimes will buy lots of pottery and and they're really cool pots, but sometimes they do come without drainage. And I take advantage sometimes of of what I know, in in just general knowledge as far as plant care, but yes, holes in the bottom of your pot is definitely necessary. You want that water to drain out the bottom. And there are if if if you're a little more comfortable, you have had plants before and you know that you're you're pretty good water, you can manipulate any pot to accommodate your plant, you can put gravel in the bottom of your pot where the water will catch, you can learn how much to put in your plant. So it just goes to the bottom and doesn't necessarily spill out. There's there's tricks to you know, if you're really attached to a pot and you consider yourself a little more experienced water.Nate B  47:07  I'm glad you brought up the gravel at the bottom because that's a question I think that a lot of people have is can you create that drainage layer at the bottom? My concern would be that the potting mix might end up just clogging at the bottom, sort of getting into that gravel and potentially stopping water from draining is my concern founded? might that be true for sand or something else? I mean, there's all sorts of things that you could potentially put at the bottom but is that going to work or what's your take on that Emma?Emma E  47:41  I'd be more concerned about just overflowing that reservoir so you have those stones at the bottom or the sand at the bottom and you have no way of knowing exactly how much water is down there at that level. So I I would be more concerned that I that that space all those pore spaces between the stones it's already full. But the potting mix at the top is looking like it's it's kind of dry so I put more water in there. I i've never personally had a whole lot of luck with with pots that don't have drainage I I have a few actually really nice glaze pots that don't have drainage that I've had for years and I've tried a number of different plants in them and I've found it's just it's really hard to get it quite right. For me anyways, I don't think I ever quite figured it out.Please excuse the interruption. It's time for this episode's featured question. How to fertilize houseplants. fertilizing house plants is something that is often overlooked. Many foliage plants are relatively slow growing and have fairly low nutrient requirements, but they still need a fertilizer boost periodically for healthy growth. Most potting mixes contain few if any nutrients. So if your plants are looking pale or developing smaller than average leaves, then it's probably time to fertilize. Which fertilizer works best depends on what you're growing. Different fertilizers contain various percentages of the three essential macronutrients nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium. In general, foliage house plants grow best with fertilizers that are high in nitrogen, whereas flowering house plants grow better with a higher phosphorus source. There are many specialty house plant fertilizers that work quite well for specific plants. However, a balanced fertilizer such as 10 1010, or 20 2020 is usually suitable for the majority of common plants. One thing I would avoid is organic fertilizers for houseplants. Not only can these products be smelly, but they require a soil microbial committee To make their nutrients available to plants, something that potting mix simply doesn't have. Finally, I'll close by saying that it is important to carefully read the fertilizer label and apply only as directed. Too much fertilizer can actually damage plants. Also, you should only fertilize when your plants are actively growing. Usually the spring through the fall, giving it a rest over the winterNate B  50:29  interruption Excused emma. So Nicole, what shopping tips do you have for our listeners for the next time they go to their local garden center and want to pick up healthy plants that will thrive in their homes?Nicole K  50:42  So educating yourself on the most common pests of houseplants I think would be the first step. spider mite is a very very common one. And webbing any type of webbing between the nodes which would be where the leaf meets the stem or over the the leaf itself is is definitely a no no it's a it's a sign that there's there might be some insect damage going on. Looking for mealybug is another one, it's a little and white and fluffy and it kind of looks like mold and sometimes these guys can just be little tiny, white fluffy specks and you don't really know what you're looking at. But googling images of these things I think because coming from I sell a lot of different types of plants in one small one area, you know, and these these pests are gonna happen and we do the best that we can to practice integrated pest management program and be on the ball when when we get things in scouring over making sure that there's there's no little bad guys on there and treating them as well. But it's going to happen you know it to some extent and so I think we pride ourselves at Lake Street on on keeping our plants pretty clean. But insects are definitely something you want to look for fungus gnat is another one that's really popular if plants are getting over watered, consistently, fungus not can get his soil borne. And then they if you Brussel the plant or go to pick it up and these little flies come out, you know that those guys can spread pretty quickly and you can have a problem on your hands in the house looking for a nice lush green foliage, anything chartreuse or if you can see kind of veining and leaves of foliage plants, they're usually lacking nitrogen or you know deficient in some way which can be rectified. But they might not be in the in the in tip top condition. And looking for new growth, I think is a big one to it checking that plant and seeing you know, wherever then the new leaves are pushing out is is there nice healthy new growth on on the plant that you're buying. If there's a whole table of plants and you're you don't know which one to pick, shape, branching, nice full plants and especially the the new growth looking to see that that new growth is pushing is is something you you want to check for as well.Emma E  53:46  I'll often try to take a peek at the roots too. Sometimes that might mean just looking at the underside of that pot through the drain atolls. And I would ideally like to see routes that look white or more of a cream color that are nice and healthy. If I'm seeing just kind of shriveled looking brown roots on the bottom, it's probably a sign there's been some root decay from overwatering and that that plant is going to struggle along for a while if it if it does survive.Nate B  54:12  What exactly do you do with a plant that has at some point suffered from over watering and potentially some root rot? Is that something that plants can come back from and how can you help them or are you having to actually prune roots at that point trying to cut out decaying roots are well those roots potentially heal on their own.Emma E  54:35  So the damaged roots aren't going to heal, but you could potentially get new healthy roots if there's still existing healthy roots on that plant. You could get healthy new growth expanding from those roots. First thing I would do is just totally cut back on watering. And if you're using a pot that doesn't have a drainage hole, or if it's something that's been in the same pot for you Let's say five or more years, it's possible that drainage hole has gotten clogged up. So repotting, it can be helpful. But I have a porthos right now that was given to me that decidedly had some root rot going on when I got it, but it is starting to push some new growth because it is on my watering schedule now. So watering is is very light and those healthy roots that were still on the plant, I think of there, they're still there. And I've gotten some new growth, expanding from those roots too.Nicole K  55:33  Another thing too, is downsizing the pot sometimes, when customers come in and show me pictures, I can usually decipher that it's an over watering issue. And if you if you take that, if you go to report it or just to even see what the roots are, and most of the soil falls away and you have this tiny little root ball in this pot, spit into downsizing the pot into some fresh soil and getting it on a new watering schedule will will help push healthy root growth as well.Nate B  56:08  When you talk about a watering schedule, how do you think about that and plan for a watering schedule for your plants? Is that something where you're watering? When you know that the plants need water? Or are you potentially able to at some point figure out that a plant needs water every week, or every 10 days or whatever it is, how do you really lock that in?Nicole K  56:32  I think using my five senses are some of the senses anyways, maybe not taste. But smell sometimes, you know, you can smell some dank soil. But a I would say that that's the best way to do it with your plants individually. Because most of the time people want things that are convenient. And so they want to water on Wednesday when they're home or one day a week. And oftentimes you have plants in different sized pots that need different watering requirements. So I'll actually take the customers plant that they want to buy. And I'll show them how you can brace the plant with your hand and tip it over and pull that pot off the bottom. And you can actually see that the top might look dry. But further down, you still have moisture. So they bring the plant home and they water it and they put it where it wants to go. Every few days or so with this new plant, they can check and they can see you know how how far it's gone. How much that soil has dried out. Obviously different plants want to dry out to different levels, which you would want to educate yourself on when you buy the plant. But visually when I teach girls how to water in the greenhouse to it, that's another another thing that I do is I have them pull off that pot and see because usually, most often it will look dry on top and it's not ready yet. To checking out the soil would be a big one.Emma E  58:11  Yeah, I would say I don't really have a true schedule. When it comes to watering, I would say I pull out the watering can a couple of times a week that first pass through I'm not watering everybody might be just half of my plants actually need water. So those will get watered and everybody else gets left alone for the time being. And then if I you know come through again, before I disappear for the weekend, I might be watering some of those same plants again, and maybe some of the ones that got left out before so it's, it's really just based on plant need. Rather than saying, I need to do this once a week, every Tuesday my plant gets water. It's really you just need to work on your observational skills, feeling the soil, taking a look at it, maybe at some point letting that plant get almost to the point of wilting so that you know what that looks like. And what the potting mix feels like when it's that dry.Nate B  59:12  I want to get your predictions. Um, I'm not sure if you have predictions or not. But if you do go for it, but Nicole, I know you have predictions. What are the plants that you think are going to be especially popular this year? The plants that you've noticed have been growing in popularity or you think are going to be growing in popularity very soon.Nicole K  59:35  Yeah, there I mean, there's a lot I've I've worked at Lake Street a long time and I will say I used to never be able to sell snake plant and now I cannot keep snake plant on my table. There's so many cool varieties. There's cylindrical snake plant which is rounded there's, you know, different variations of snake plant and and Since avaria, is 10 times more popular than it ever has been. So that's definitely one philodendron in any species, especially anything variegated philodendron Birkin is one that's really hot right now. monstera deliciosa monstera ad and Sonia I which is sometimes called Swiss cheese vine that has that kind of serrated leaf to it but more binding and smaller than the delicious dosa. People are just becoming philodendron collectors it's it's kind of a thing now. And every I get calls every week of Do you have this type that type and, and I wish that I had more of a source but I do the best I can to get in but we have had Birkin in. We do have Adam Sonia and zyliss yosa. And so those also another type of porthos is Cebu blue is one that's become more popular. It has this really beautiful silvery blue foliage and it's not your typical heartshaped leaf. It's one of those plants that Emma was talking about that kind of spills over and it's I'm a big fan of the Cebu I have one and I love it. People are also I would say, orchid cactus I've noticed an upcoming trend and especially Fishbone orchid cactus, which has sometimes called Ric RAC is an old common name for it rickrack cactus it has, it looks like a bone, it's really cool. It has these big lobes and it flowers. And I've I've had more people at cult like we've had people calling and asking and we've propagated more of that, because of the prediction that that's going to be more popular string of hearts is another one that I can only I it's a it's not the most vigorous grower so we can only put out as much as we can and propagate and then it's gone. And I'm bringing in like a tray at a time and it disappears. And so that's one that I can't even keep in there. Another one that we've had the mother plant for a while and we just never really propagated it because it i don't know i i noticed it a few months ago down there for the first time but we've we've had it for a while it's in the sixes family and it's called Partha gnosis is amazonica or jungle vine. It has these really almost similar to an angel wing begonia. It has these elongated wing shaped leaves with like a reddish Maroon underside and a silvery foliage and it is a little different in the sense that it doesn't need direct sunlight, but it's actually a climber. So it does send out runners that will cling on unlike patos and most philodendron that just our bridal veil, there's other ones that just kind of spill over the pot this one will actually climb if it has something to cling on to and so we've started propagating those and that's another one that is just flying off the shelves. it's it's a it's a really cool plant try to scan Sha two I also known as wandering Jew there's some really neat hybrids that have come out like Nanak which is has this like light pink and green variegation and the underside of the leaf is like purple like a color shade that you wouldn't think would be natural to a plant it's I have one I love it My room's purple purple girl so I and then try to sketch a rainbow is another one it has this cream and purple and greenish variegation really funky and awesome. But any of the tracks I have like nine different species of try to sketch I have a whole try to sketch a table which is a first for me in Lake Street garden center history. So that one's really cool too. What about you, Emma?Emma E  1:04:24  Oh, gosh, I mean, I I feel like I've been seeing a lot of Hoyas around as well as being pretty popular and a good choice if you don't mind waiting a long time or don't mind a plant that will just kind of sit around and not do a whole lot which I think can be fine. That's kind of how the the snake plants are to where they're, they're not gonna grow you know very quickly, but you're going to have something that's that's pretty hard, too hard to kill. One of my favorite plants that I have right now is my cast iron plant aspa distro. It's really attractive, really more of kind of an old fashioned vibe but it's it tolerates the low light condition I have it in doesn't mind the soil being on the drier side so I'm hoping to see more of that plant around because I do think it's it's worthy of being a part of this this new foliage plant craze.Nicole K  1:05:23  I actually had a hard time getting those in this year which has never been the case for me we we order a lot of foliage from Florida at the end of our you know, spring growing season when when summer is fading into fall we we try to vamp up the greenhouse for winter sales and it wasn't on the availability at all and usually I'll get six in and they can't tell them all winter. And we actually had customers calling this year asking for her cast iron and it's called that for a reason for sure who that plant is pretty I won't say indestructible but it can it can tolerate a wide range of conditions that yeah, it is that is a cool plant. I think one of my favorites. I'm a begonia girl anyways I love all but don't me and my boss to the owner of Lake Street we when it when spring hits between angel wings and dragon wings and tuberous but don't we just we do too much. He's like more and I'm like yes. Or I'm always trying to look for different colors. I just we have an affinity for begonias, both of us so we share that but dragon I'm sorry, angel wing begonias. Right now the macula Ladas are, are hot. They're they're definitely we have a mother plant that we've had for almost 30 years. It's a begonia Ksenia, an orange blooming variety and it has that angel wing type leaf with the silver spotting on it and this bright orange clusters of flowers. And we usually sell it as a shade hanger in the spring. And I kind of saw this trend up and coming and I asked our grower to propagate some of it. And it I it's it was a good prediction is they're they're going like crazy and angel wings. And I would say abutilon I think is an underrated winter flowering house plant. I mean, it will actually flower most of the year if it's happy and has proper fertilizer conditions. But it's it they call it flowering Maple because the shape the leaf, it has nothing to do with the APL family. But it has this really cute like pendulous flower that hangs almost looks like a little like fairy skirt. And they come in yellows and paint. And I'm a big fan of training standards. So like I like to take a plant that would normally be a bush and try and turn it into a tree. It's like a nerdy fun thing that I like to do and it along are really easy to actually do that you can pick away all the foliage and just leave this little ball at top. And if you keep picking away all that foliage on that main stock, and get rid of all the others, you'll get this nice little round head and this cute little tree. So I think that's why I love them so much.Nate B  1:08:30  But would you say for houseplant customers, there's a particular time of year where you're going to have access to the best variety and selection at your local garden centers are there for Lake Street and for other garden centers, I assume that the trends and timing are relatively similar, like is winter a really good time to buy or some other time here.Nicole K  1:08:55  So usually, after the we start slowing down with our annuals and vegetable sales, spring flowering items and stuff, basically, when there's space in the greenhouse, which is usually around August, that's when I'll start looking at bringing in some foliage plants. Even it can still be a little hot and the sun can be really intense in there. So I have to be careful at the end of the summer. But I'm usually bringing in three or four shipments from Florida anywhere between August and October. So fall and throughout and I'm calling and checking and asking is something that you can definitely do to you know, inquiring when if and when you're getting new shipments of houseplants is something you know it's a question we get oftenEmma E  1:09:47  I would imagine to having customers tell you what they're looking for giving you a call talking to you, you know at your business is helpful for you as well in terms of planning.Nicole K  1:09:58  It does. I will Say, though, that the trends come and go so quickly that what's popular now in three weeks like might not necessarily be, and especially next season, I don't, I can't even predict what I mean, we were deemed essential through the, you know, the whole COVID shut down in New Hampshire garden centers and nurseries were able to stay open. So we had three times the amount of volume that we usually do there, you know, and we did the best that we could to keep up with the inventory. But it was near impossible, even our suppliers sold out faster than they ever would have. And that's, that's continuing on now through fallen winter, and I've had more customers in my greenhouse in January than I've ever seen. Walking through there at four o'clock on a Wednesday, you know, I can have 10 people in there shopping for houseplants, and that's unheard of for us in January. So yeah, to answer your question, yes. I people call and ask and then I hunt is kind of what what usually happens.Emma E  1:11:09  I'd say I, I would say grow what you're excited about, you know, visit your local garden center. Do a little bit of research in advance or take advantage of the staff that are working there, use them as a resource. But uh, you know, don't don't pigeonhole yourself either. With just growing, you know, one specific thing that you think might be perfect for your, your location, you know, be willing to try a bunch of different things. And yeah, if you're really excited about the plant, chances are that you're going to do the research you need to keep that plant really healthy.Nicole K  1:11:48  Yeah, we covered so much. And this has been a really awesome opportunity. I'm, I'm really grateful for it. And thank you guys for reaching out to me to do this. And I'll say to you know, I've seen a lot of customers who really want to be plant people, but don't think they are, you know, in any can be a plant person. And Emma said it earlier. And it was the same for me I had to kill a lot of plants before I could keep plants alive. I can't tell you how many times I tried to grow an African violet. And now in however long it's been my African Violets are doing great. But just just keep trying, you know, and and and don't hesitate to ask questions. So a lot of people will come in the greenhouse and and, you know, feel like they're bothering me or whatever. But that's what we're here for. You know, I'm I love the QA and, and to be able to help customers out and and learn how to, you know, take care of their plants and broaden their experience and stuff. So don't don't hesitate to to utilize us as a resource.Nate B  1:12:55  And I would echo that for unh extension. That's why we're here too. So, yeah, everyone out there. Don't be afraid to kill plants. Don't be afraid to try new things. And don't be afraid to ask questions either to your cooperative extension to your favorite garden center. We're all here to help. So yeah, thanks again for coming on. Nicole. This has been really fun. We'll have to talk some more at some other point about some other aspects of house plant maintenance. We didn't even get things like fertilizing pruning, cleaning sanitation, we didn't talk about propagation as far as the How to and that could be its own episode, frankly, lots of opportunities for for future topics of discussion.Emma E  1:13:48  This episode's featured plant is zz plant seameo caucus ximea folia. It's one of the best indoor foliage plants I know of for low light environments. zz plant is native to dry grasslands and forests in eastern and southern tropical Africa, making it pretty solidly a house plant for New Hampshire. It's a member of the arrowhead family, which means it's related to other popular house plants like philodendron monstera and peace Lily. It's distinctive looking, and that is stemless with compound leaves that arise from rhizomes beneath the soil. The leaflets are glossy green, and they're attached to fleshy leaf stems that grow to about two to three feet tall. zz plant grows really well and bright indirect light, though will tolerate low light so it's a it's a decent plant to have a good ways from a window in your home. You should when you're caring for it water regularly, but avoid keeping the soil consistently wet. Soils should really be allowed to drive fully between water applications. plant will also do best if you keep it in a room where the temperature is at least 60 degrees. The last thing I'll note is that zz plant does grow slowly. But it's easy to keep looking good as long as you're being careful with your watering, occasionally fertilizing it and giving it a good source of bright indirect light.I'd like to close this episode with a tip on how to clean the leaves of

Dr Peter Ridland is an Honorary Fellow in the Bio Sciences department of Melbourne Uni and an Aussie leader in the field of Integrated Pest Management (IPM). In this episode, he walks us through 6 broad methods of IPM and gives us a number of real-world examples of strategies that have worked in his experience working with all sorts of pests, especially those of the insect variety which are his specialty.EPISODE LINKSVisit the Melbourne Uni website: https://www.unimelb.edu.au/Look into Oxfam's work in Timor-Leste and make a donation: https://www.oxfam.org.au/country/timor-leste/ Check out Bugs for Bugs, where Aussies can find information and predatory pests which are part of an IPM strategy: https://bugsforbugs.com.au/Listen to another lecture by Dr Peter Ridland on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cyC3sAHemQ4&t=25sLearn more about IPM here: https://ipmguidelinesforgrains.com.au/FOLLOW US ON SOCIAL MEDIATwitter: @PlantsGrowHere / Facebook: @PlantsGrowHerePodcast - Join our Facebook group!VISIT OUR WEBSITEwww.PlantsGrowHere.comYou'll find heaps of educational blog articles, including  Introduction To Integrated Pest Management, What Relationships Do Plants Have With Other Organisms?, and What Is Healthy Soil, And How Can We Build It?.LET'S WORK TOGETHERAre you in the industry or an enthusiast with something of value to share? We're always on the hunt for interesting people, doing interesting things. If you'd like to work with us send a message via our online form or a direct email to plantsgrowhere@gmail.com.

Joe & Korey discuss Integrated Pest Management (IPM) and Plant Health Care (PHC). How can we look at PHC for the future and the next evolution of plant health care. Plant Health Care programs quickly evolve and we need to stay up with those changes to better the world and PHC businesses. If you enjoyed the podcast please rate, review, subscribe and tell a fellow tree lover! Questions or topics you would like us to discuss? Send them to discoveringforestry@gmail.com. Music credit: Cool Tools Music Video - "Timber" https://youtu.be/4WkCbTlA8mc Hosted by: Joe Aiken & Korey Lofy Produced by: Cara Markiewicz Artwork by: Cara Markiewicz

In the first and second World Wars, Americans were called to till, sow and start victory gardens in place of lawns and vacant lots to feed a hungry nation. In 2020, as the COVID-19 pandemic prompted people to stay home, the tradition was reborn to localize food production in the face of supply chain disruptions and uncertainty. Less time commuting meant more time at home, so many beginner gardeners rushed out to build raised beds, arrange containers and clear fallow corners of the yard to plant a spring garden for food, beauty and a bit of garden therapy. In this episode of Granite State Gardening, UNH Extension's Emma Erler and Nate Bernitz discuss the history of victory gardening, gardening trends and how New Hampshire and UNH Extension adapted to the pandemic.  Featured question: winter compostingFeatured plant: paper bark maple (Acer griseum)Closing gardening tip: holiday gift plant care after the holidays  Connect with us at @askunhextension on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter and subscribe to the monthly Granite State Gardening newsletter. Email us questions, suggestions and feedback at gsg.pod@unh.edu Background Reading:  In the latest edition of Radius Magazine, Emma Joyce tells the story of New Hampshire's victory garden movement this spring: https://extension.unh.edu/blog/NH-residents-grow-victory-gardens  Emma Erler's question of the week on winter composting, in blog format: https://extension.unh.edu/blog/can-you-compost-winter  Learn about the paperbark maple: https://www.missouribotanicalgarden.org/PlantFinder/PlantFinderDetails.aspx?kempercode=q110  UNH Extension's fact sheet on care of flowering gift plants in the home: https://extension.unh.edu/resource/care-flowering-gift-plants-home-fact-sheet  More information on victory gardens from the New England Historical Society: https://www.newenglandhistoricalsociety.com/how-vicory-gardens-helped-win-world-war-2/  Information about the Victory Garden at Strawbery Banke Museum in Portsmouth: https://www.strawberybanke.org/victory.cfm  Some basic guidance on planting a victory garden: https://extension.unh.edu/blog/planting-victory-garden  How the Wright Museum helps battle hunger with its Victory Garden: https://www.wrightmuseum.org/2018/07/02/wright-museum-victory-garden/  Learn about the Cornucopia Project: http://cornucopiaproject.org/  Information about UNH Extension's Free Seed Program: https://extension.unh.edu/resource/free-seeds-education  Meet the NH Master Gardeners: https://extension.unh.edu/tags/meet-nh-master-gardeners  UNH Extension and COVID-19: https://extension.unh.edu/tags/covid-19 TRANSCRIPT[Nate B] Greetings Granite State gardeners. Getting acquainted with the newest podcast from UNH Extension, how the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted gardeners and gardening, the history of Victory Gardens from past to present, highlighting victory gardens and the Master Gardeners who cultivate them. We'll discuss all these topics and more on this edition, the first ever episode of Granite State Gardening.Okay, our goal with the Granite State gardening podcast is to explore the world of gardening and help you achieve success in your garden. We're sticklers for research based information here at UNH Extension so you can count on us to share proven tips and solutions. We want to meet you where you're at as a gardener. So we're going to count on your feedback. What topics do you want us to explore with you? Is the information we're sharing to advance to basic or just right, email us at GSG.pod@ unh.edu. And let's get started and hear from my co host Emma.[Emma E]   I'm [Emma E]rler and I am one of the horticulture experts for UNH Extension . My job is to help home gardeners and landscapers solve gardening issues, as well as teach workshops, write articles, and regularly appear on WMUR's Grow It  Green TV segment. I've been interested in gardening for as long as I can remember, I began helping my mom with her vegetable and flower gardens, starting seeds weeding, transplanting and eventually growing plants of my own. I still have a few house plants that I started in elementary school actually. Before I came to UNH Extension, I worked at a few different public gardens on the East Coast as a professional horticulturist. However, I found that my true passion is education, which brings me here. I'm really excited to be joining my friend and colleague Nate on this podcast.[Nate B] And again I'm Nate Bernitz. I'm part of UNH Extension's home horticulture team and have the privilege to work with Emma and New Hampshire Master Gardeners. And also make sure everyone who has questions gets answers. I lead outreach efforts for Ask UNH Extension and Granite State Gardening and increasingly becoming an avid gardener myself. You'll mostly learn from Emma on this podcast, truth be told, but I hope to bring you some knowledge and laughs along the way as well. Before joining UNH Extension, I honestly had more experience gardening with oysters and clams than fruits and vegetables. But frankly, you can't work on this team and immerse yourself in the world of gardening without picking up a thing or two. I'm excited to co host this podcast and perhaps selfishly learn a lot myself right along with you. Okay, let's get into it.[Emma E]   A segment of this podcast that I'm really excited about is the question of the week. Through our Infoline service, Nate and I get dozens of questions every week from home gardeners about various topics. And my goal is to focus on one of these questions each week really break it down and discuss the most important parts of it. So this week, I want to talk about winter composting. Basically, what it sounds like composting through the winter, getting started with composting for the first time in the winter. A lot of people just started composting for the first time this year. And something we've been asked a lot is whether it's possible to compost in the wintertime, or whether you have to stop for a while and begin again in the spring. So if you have already started, the answer is absolutely yes, you can totally start composting right now or you can keep composting. So the way composting works is that it's this decomposition process that happens with a variety of micro organisms and larger macro organisms that that decompose that organic matter. So in the wintertime, decomposition slows down, but it doesn't totally stop or at least not for long. When the compost pile is completely frozen, then nothing is breaking down. But as long as the core center of that pile is unfrozen or if we get any warm spells throughout the winter, then it's going to start right back up. So in terms of the organisms in the pile that are doing that work, I have bacteria, you have actinomycetes which are actually filamentous bacteria that resemble fungi and these are the critters that are responsible for giving compost that earthy smell. You also have fungi, so molds and yeast, as well as some larger decomposers I mentioned, like sow bugs, pill bugs, earthworms, all of these creatures can survive in compost piles year round, their populations might not be very high, they might not be doing all that much work. But bacteria can increase their populations rapidly as soon as conditions are right. So as soon as it warms up enough, and that's kind of true across the board. So you can absolutely keep composting, there are a few things that you're going to want to pay attention to, though. First, it might be a little late for this. But it is important to harvest your finished compost to make room for winter additions. Because decomposition slows down so much. The materials that you put onto the compost pile from your kitchen over the winter can really add up because they're not breaking down very quickly. So taking finished compost out is important. You'll know if your compost is finished, if you really don't see any signs of the original materials that went into the pile anymore. If it's very dark, crumbly if it has an earthy odor, that means it's done. So a lot of times in the fall, people will go through and turn their compost pile and actually separate out the stuff that's finished. And either use that in their garden right then and there. Maybe spread it as a top dressing, use it in their lawns or vegetable gardens or flower beds, or you can save it for use in the spring. So sometimes it's helpful to put it in a bin to cover it with a tarp so that it doesn't get too soggy over the winter months. But you'll have it available to us as a garden amendment come spring. So once you've done that, once you've cleared some space in the compost area, you're still going to have to pay attention in the wintertime to greens and browns. So if you're familiar with composting, you've probably heard this term before. But basically there are two types of materials you can put on a compost pile, you have brown materials, which we call our carbon rich materials, these are really going to provide a lot of aeration to the pile. So going to keep that airflow oxygen is important and part of this decomposition process. So browns are going to include things like leaves, pine needles, sawdust, newspaper, maybe some some fine sticks or branches that have been chopped up. For green material on the other side. Those are very soft organic materials. So think grass clippings, or anything that comes out of the kitchen. So vegetable scraps, fruit peelings, those are all greens. When you're composting, it's important to mix the two together. Number one, so your pile doesn't get too smelly. Number two, so that you are increasing the oxygenation of that pile, those green materials are going to break down a bit faster. But it's important to have some of both. So in the wintertime, you're probably not going to be having a whole lot of brown materials to add necessarily, you may just have a whole bunch of kitchen materials. So stockpiling brown materials to be able to layer over your greens is really key. So that could mean piling up leaves in the fall putting those near your compost piles specifically to use in composting. Or it could mean getting some other materials on hand. So shredded newspaper works really well for composting, straw, sawdust wood chips, if you can get any of those materials on hand, that's really helpful. common mistake I guess some sometimes people will make is adding only greens in the winter months, so only kitchen scraps, and what you end up with is basically a stinky wet mess in the spring once the pile thaws out. And that's, that's not necessarily a deal breaker or really a bad thing. But for most people, you don't necessarily want that that real smelly pile. So adding some browns throughout the winter is helpful. If you do forget or if you don't have brown materials, that's fine, you can keep adding those greens, so those kitchen scraps through the winter. But in the spring, once the pile is thawed, you probably will want to add some more browns. So turn the pile, add some of that newspaper, add some of those wood chips, the leaves, whatever, you have to increase the aeration. And then finally, really through the winter, an important thing to do too, is reduce the size of the greens and the browns you're putting on that pile. The smaller that you can make the particles that go in the pile, the faster they're going to break down because you're increasing the surface area where these decomposers can actually feed on these materials. And really, a couple more things I'd add here is that you should wait to turn your pile until the spring once it's thawed. Every time you turn the compost pile you actually end up releasing some Heat. So in the winter months, that's something that you want to avoid. So go ahead and wait until the spring. And if you have a wood stove or a fireplace, you really want to be careful how much wood ash you add to your compost pile. Wood ashes can quickly raise the pH and actually bump it past the optimum range for microbial activity in that compost pile. Most of the beneficial organisms that are decomposers do best when the pH is neutral to slightly acidic. So adding some wood ash once in a while might be okay. But definitely don't put all of it on the compost pile, it's not going to be a benefit. But in summary, Composting is absolutely possible in the winter. If you already have a compost pile, it's something you should keep up with. And if you haven't started composting before, there's no reason you can't get started in the wintertime.[Nate B] Emma, we want to talk in this introductory episode about COVID. And how that has impacted the world of gardening. We really couldn't start this podcast any other way. You, as part of your work, do some education and outreach with professional growers and garden centers, as well as the home gardening public. I'm curious, what have you and your team noticed that's been maybe a little bit different about this year versus other years.[Emma E]   Overall, pretty much universally in spring and summer of 2020. It was the best season in a long time for New Hampshire growers and garden centers. That wasn't entirely expected. Some growers were actually considering scaling back production, because they didn't know if the growing or green industry was going to be considered essential. But most growers continued with their pre COVID production plans. And at the peak of the retail season, getting plant material was actually a challenge for some gardeners due to very high sales volume. A lot of people are out shopping this year for plants. And one of the interesting things is that this applied to flowering plants, trees and shrubs, not only vegetables, because they think we think of a lot of people as growing vegetables this year. And presumably, this is because people were spending a lot more time at home instead of going on vacation. So they were happy to make their homes and their yards more pleasant places to be. Also from the consumer side, it got pretty hard to find seeds and certain garden supplies this spring because things sold out. So you had to wait a long time or certain plants were simply unavailable. So we don't know yet what next spring is going to look like. But you know, most people that are growers or retailers are hopeful that some of these COVID converts - these people that really got into gardening this year - will become lifelong plant enthusiasts.[Nate B] I guess, safe to say these "COVID converts" are going to be ordering their seeds a little bit earlier than they did last year, we can remember that this pandemic really became what it was starting in March. And for experienced gardeners, their seed orders were already placed by that point. So by the time we got to March, which is really the start of when gardeners might be starting seeds. You know that that was really well into that period already. What have you heard in that regard? Or what would you anticipate in that regard, as far as you know how people are going to go about their gardening, maybe in a different way than they did this year?[Emma E]   My hope anyways, and I think this is probably true that a lot of people are going to be trying to plan ahead a bit more this year. Thinking about ordering those seeds earlier having had the experience of not being able to get what they want not being able to find seeds. Same goes for seedling trees and shrubs. I think people are learning that a lot of these plants too. If you're hoping to grow, say fruit trees in your home garden, you really actually need to be ordering those as early as December, January, February. So if you wait till the spring, your only option is probably going to be to buy larger trees at the garden center, which is okay too. But they're definitely more expensive. So I think people probably learn from their mistakes, shall we say? And I think most people were still able to have the gardens they wanted despite some shortages earlier in the season. But I hope Anyways, that folks are planning ahead a bit more.[Nate B] I think that there were shortages on more than seeds, right. I think throughout the growing season, we heard about shortages on so many different things. What else do you remember about what was perhaps in somewhat short supply at times?[Emma E]   I think some of the other general gardening supplies could be hard to find at certain points. So some people might have had trouble getting the exact irrigation equipment that they wanted, perhaps landscape fabrics, trying to find mulches that were appropriate for their gardens, it was kind of across the board. So one nice thing is that a lot of people probably have been able to purchase a lot of the equipment that they need, at least for things that are reusable, and have maybe thought about some of these renewable materials and their own homes that they can have stockpiled for their garden next year. So people have started composting. So compost is great for the garden, a lot of people are thinking about using leaves a little bit more. So materials that are on their property that can be used as a mulch. So that's going to be really helpful. But this coming year, with gardening, it really does take a bit of experience to figure out what's gonna work and what isn't, and exactly what you need to have when. So for those that started for the first time, this past year, it was a big learning curve. But I think a lot of people, you know, even if they weren't super successful this year are still enthusiastic enough to try to do things a little bit better this year, now that they've learned so much.[Nate B] compost is a really great example, right? If you go to the store, and they're out of compost, that's a really great incentive for you not to have to go buy compost and to make it yourself And fortunately, that's something that you can do. Just kind of shifting gears a little bit away from the home garden, is something that's really important are 1, school gardens and 2, community gardens and with school gardens, you know, many for obvious reasons were sidelined because of the pandemic. Right? If students and staff are not at school, and staying home to be safe, it's gonna be tough to keep the garden weeded and watered and well, sort of the the reason it's there changes, right? You know, one, one example, in the ConVal district of southwestern New Hampshire, the Cornucopia Project, assists teachers and students with garden projects and curriculum. So, you know, they're one organization that really pivoted. You know, we also saw community garden plots, unlike school gardens get really, really popular. I mean, that's  been a trend, I think for longer than just this year, maybe there not being as many community garden plots as there are interested hands, but especially this year, plots where people can grow their own food really filled up across the state very quickly. And it became very apparent that there weren't enough community gardens to meet demand. There's a reason for that. I think there are a lot of challenges associated with organizing community gardens, many of them don't last, for various reasons. And actually, that that's a good place to spend a minute, what are some challenges that that you see with community gardens and why they don't always last?[Emma E]   Well, one of the biggest challenges I think, is that they're almost always volunteer organized. So a lot of times when a community garden starts, you might have a core group of people that are really passionate about the project, it can be exciting, easy to raise some funds to get a project like that started to do the actual construction of fencing and raised beds. But as time goes on, it can be challenging to keep things looking good, to keep people excited and involved to actually be the ones in charge of working with people to get their beds set up keeping things well maintained. And when you don't have that volunteer support, then it gets challenging to keep it going. But fortunately, there are a lot of examples of community gardens in New Hampshire, that that do have incredible volunteer support, or things have been able to keep going. Some of the other challenges too, with with community gardens, that I think are fairly universal is that it can be really difficult to deal with with certain pest issues, let's say weeds, and insects and diseases. And in order to have a really successful garden with a lot of different people involved so that everybody kind of has to be on the same page in terms of how they're managing these things. So if one plot or a couple plots are being ignored and the weeds are taking over, There is potential for some spread there. Same goes for insect and disease issues. If somebody's not scouting their plants regularly, handpicking disease leaves or insects because of course, if you're on a community garden, it's not allowable to be spraying any sort of pesticides using any sort of pesticides if it's not property you own. So you really have to be very, very diligent by doing most of this pest control by hand. So in order to for everybody to be successful, everybody has to be really invested in the community garden. And, you know, it's, it's hard sometimes to have the same buy in from every single member.[Nate B] That reminds me a little bit of something we heard from Master Gardeners Suzanne McDonald, who reported that at the community garden at Wagon Hill Farm in Durham, nearby to the flagship UNH Durham campus, of course, there were over 100, or I'm sorry, over 55 gardeners participating this summer, and that the gardens were well cared for because people weren't traveling as much. They were at home, and they were more focused on growing healthy and nutritious food for their families. So some of those challenges weren't as significant for that community garden and presumably others because of people's mindsets and the fact that they were just able to be there more often. I will just add as an interesting aside at that garden, there is a food pantry plot managed by another Master Gardener, Lynn Howard. The plot produced 70 bushels of produce for two local food pantries in the area. And even other gardens, donated excess produce to the pantries as well some devoted a row or two to donate from their community garden plots. So they felt like the year ended up being a huge success, despite all the challenges, one being voles, and and many others that you mentioned. And, you know, UNH Extension, the Master Gardener program, we kind of pivoted towards supporting community gardens in some different ways. This year, we have something called a free seed project. You are involved with that Emma, that typically provide seeds to educators at schools, youth centers and other nonprofit organizations to use for education about plants and related topics. But during the covid 19 pandemic seeds Additionally, were shared with 4-H students, Nutrition Connection clients, which is another Extension program, community garden participants and others. And one kind of interesting example, through a connection from our colleague Jonathan Ebba, the agricultural supervisor at his mansion ministries, a faith based Addiction Rehab Center in Deering, New Hampshire, offered to sprout some of the seeds in their greenhouse and make seedlings available to those in need. So community gardeners in Manchester received over 30 trays of vegetable seedlings from this greenhouse that they planted and grew to then provide fresh vegetables throughout the summer and fall, including again to food pantries. You know, we also worked with the Nashua Housing Authority Grow Nashua community gardens, new Ipswich food pantry, Keene community gardens, Sullivan county food pantries donating you know, well over 1000 seed packets to just you know, some of these groups. So it's, it's been, it's been an amazing year, one with a lot of need. And just an amazing and inspiring response from Master Gardeners.[Emma E]   Oh, absolutely. It's one thing that that has absolutely blown me away. A lot of the initiatives that Master Gardeners started or at least the dedication that they have to to feeding their communities, to making agriculture accessible to their communities on fresh food, most importantly, so really, really wonderful.[Nate B] Another food pantry garden was the garden In Littleton at the mount Sacred Heart convent where nearly 5000 pounds of produce was produced. And because of the storage capacity and types of food raised fresh produce was then provided to those in need every month of the year from this garden. That project was led by master gardener, Evelyn Hagen in the Littleton New Hampshire area, which is in northwestern New Hampshire,[Emma E]   which is fantastic. I always think the more we can connect people with their food, the better especially when it's younger kids so they have the opportunity to see what a tomato plant actually looks like. What a carrot looks like how it grows. COVID also had a big impact on the work of UNH Extension, particularly in our food and agriculture team, which you and I are both a part of Nate. we had to shift the way we delivered programming. One of our hallmarks is typically being able to offer in person programming, to be able to engage our audiences, whether it's farmers, whether it's home gardeners, but that really wasn't an option anymore, when COVID started up. So you know, when you think of that, Nate, what do you think one of the most significant changes was[Nate B] translating quickly changing programs, information and regulations, to formats and language that was accessible and timely, in a few ways through daily FAQ update emails for growers and producers, online farmer forums that connected growers with service providers and each other, where they discussed obstacles and did some problem solving. These were happening, I think, on a weekly basis, kind of at the the peak of adaptation during the pandemic, you know, over the summer, and spring. You know, the issues ranged really widely from food safety, to protecting workers in a COVID pandemic environment, to new market opportunities and safe ways of conducting CSAs, farmers markets and pick your own operations. The other thing is over the course of the pandemic, there's really been a regular flow of new complex rules and regulations federally at and at the state level. So Extension has worked diligently to interpret those new laws and work with state and federal partners to ensure agricultural businesses have the information they need in a timely manner, including new funding and relief opportunities,[Emma E]   critically important and stuff when you know, in the middle of the pandemic, that's that stuff that farmers didn't necessarily have the bandwidth to be working on. So being able to have Extension, figure out, you know, some of the go through some of the red tape to figure out what farmers needed was was really important.[Nate B] Well, I was just gonna say another strain on farmers were their supply chains that they've come to rely on farmers that might normally be selling produce to restaurants, and, you know, other businesses that were also impacted by the pandemic, you know, maybe school systems being another right like, there were there was a real drop off in some supply chains, and then really an increase in demand from individual consumers. So, Extension teamed up with the New Hampshire Department of Agriculture to gather farm listings and actually build an interactive farm products map, which helps connect consumers to buy directly from New Hampshire growers and producers, that included local meats, produce, dairy, cut flowers, hay, compost, seedlings, soap, candles, and much more. In the map, which is still up and running on the UNH Extension website, by the way, farmers are able to share up to date information about pickup locations, delivery options, payment methods, product listings, even purchasing incentives and eligible food access programs. That sounds really complex. And that's because it was. it was really complex to figure out for farms that might not normally have done very much in direct retail sales, how to sell food to people who wanted it in a pandemic environment.[Emma E]   we think back to, you know, at this point, are the shelves are pretty much fully stocked in the grocery store. But earlier in the pandemic, back the spring, early this summer, it was really hard to find certain things, whether it was meat, whether it was produce. And I think a lot of people were interested in buying locally, you know, just the fact that supply chains were interrupted. I mean, it's that's less of an issue when you're buying your food from just down the road.[Nate B] And there was also just an unknown, you know what's going to happen next week, right, and people are also limiting their shopping trips and didn't necessarily want to be in crowded grocery stores more than they had to, spending a lot more time at home. So perhaps cooking more, and of course, gardening more. You know, the other thing about buying food is that we had significant economic impacts. So there was a real increase in need for access to food. Right. So food banks and pantries saw a lot more demand, there were a lot of people that hadn't normally relied on those sorts of programs. And all of a sudden they were and they didn't necessarily know where to find access to subsidized or, or free food and just sort of other food access programs. So that's another interactive map that our colleagues in the youth and family team at UNH Extension developed. So and that's still online as well, the food access map because those challenges persist, even now. You know, and I don't know about this one as much. But we also produced a local seafood finder online map to connect consumers with local fishermen. And aquaculture s for local items, like oysters grown in New Hampshire's Great Bay, from, you know, I think there's about 14-15 oyster farms, operating most of them very, very small. And again, most people are consuming things like oysters in restaurants, which, you know, even if you're doing takeout from a restaurant, you're not going to get raw oysters take out from a restaurant, right? Like maybe you'll get something else. So, you know, they had to figure out again, how to pivot to selling items like that to individuals. So just in many ways, Extension was doing a lot of work to connect consumers, to producers in new creative ways that really met the moment. And that kind of brings us to where we are right now because Emma and I teamed up from really March through November to produce the original iteration of Granite State gardening, which were facebook live videos. And now here we are starting the Granite State Gardening podcast.Reading pesticide labels for breakfast and using chemicals as a last resort are just part of Rachel Maccini's daily routine as UNH Extension's pesticide safety education coordinator. Now, for Rachel's Integrated Pest Management (IPM for short) featured tipRachel Maccini   Hello, an integrated pest management program approach employs pesticides in a targeted way along with non chemical control methods and cultural practices such as choosing native plants, while pesticides can be used as part of an IPM program, it is a good idea to limit their use and thereby your exposure. pesticide should be used only as a last resort and carefully chosen carefully used carefully stored and carefully disposed of. If you do plan to use pesticides, you will want to make sure you are only applying products to land you either own or are leasing. You cannot apply any pesticides to public property without securing a pesticide license from the New Hampshire Department of Agriculture markets and food division of pesticide control. When chemicals are being considered, you'll want to look for the least toxic products and always read the label before applying.[Emma E]   Changing gears a bit here with COVID-19 a term I started hearing a lot more was Victory Garden. So Victory Garden I think of as being more of a a historical thing. But perhaps I'm wrong on that. You know, I know that you've done a bit of research on this. So what can you tell us?[Nate B] Well, the history of victory gardening is really interesting. Its origins really go back to addressing some very specific problems. So back in the day, we're talking World Wars now. You know, there were issues with access to tin for canning, and distribution of food was limited because of the war. There are also high food costs, low supply of produce, at times actual rationing at stores. And not to be understated was the fact that Victory Gardening gave people a sense of purpose that they were helping the war effort. At the time, The USDA developed actually significant volumes of pamphlets, recipes, posters and hand books to support and promote gardening. Agricultural companies started educating gardeners as well. You know, talking World War 2 here in Boston, the parks department and school teachers supervised what from what I understand 49 different community gardens in the city, including one very famous one on Boston Common. gardeners also at this time started to grow new vegetables that they hadn't really grown before finding that it was quite easy to grow vegetables like swiss chard and kohlrabi.[Emma E]   I have always thought of victory gardening is being related to World War 2. But am I right in thinking that it actually started a bit earlier than that?[Nate B] Yeah, its origins were really in World War 1, the victory Victory Garden movement expanded significantly for World War Two, but was very much a thing in World War 1as well. It's funny, something like meatless Mondays, was actually created in World War 1, as were wheatless Wednesdays and porkless Saturday is to encourage Americans to eat less of items that were in demand, like meat and wheat. There was debate over whether to increase food supplies by either 1) sending people off to work farms, or 2) encouraging people to grow food on vacant lands. Ultimately, they went more with the latter. So originally, actually in the late 1800s, Detroit Mayor Hazen Pingree, who was originally from Maine, by the way, created something called the potato patch plan that allowed people to plant gardens on vacant land. And this inspired other cities to do the same. So come World War 1, the potato patch plan was revived and led to urban gardens being referred to as Victory Gardens as well as Liberty gardens. Charles Lathrop Pack also from Michigan, formed the US National War garden commission to inspire and educate Americans to plant victory gardens and again created pamphlets, posters, and even lesson plans on gardening. President Woodrow Wilson started the US garden army funded by the War Department and the national curriculum for gardening was developed by the Bureau of education. The effort envisioned "a garden for every child and every child in a garden", which I think is a nice sentiment we can still get behind.[Emma E]   So this was really an organized effort. This wasn't just people taking this upon themselves to grow food, this this was really a true national movement.[Nate B] Right. So in COVID, the Victory Garden movement was very much organic and grassroots. It wasn't driven by the top it was driven from the bottom. But in World War 1 and World War 2, they were both top down efforts largely to promote gardening because it was desperately needed. Just to bring us back to New Hampshire, efforts were made to reach every child in the state, and ultimately, an estimated 40,000 Granite State children were enlisted in the school garden army by 1919, in World War 1. And I was actually able to find the stated goals for New Hampshire at that time, "to make the Granite State a garden state to give to the young people of the new generations the sturdy qualities, which were developed in those early years when New Hampshire boys and girls were reared on farms and went southward and westward to become leaders in new communities to bring into the schools the vital interest found only in experience with realities." It was intended to reach every child in the state.[Emma E]   Wow. It's That's incredible. And and interesting that even back in 1919, we're talking about bringing this sort of education experience to kids that are not raised on farms. So I think that that's something now we think of how few children have exposure to to agriculture, per se directly, but this is a conversation that we've been having for a long time, it seems.[Nate B] Yeah. And to go back even further in the history. Now this is predating Victory Gardens but certainly not predating gardening. So in the 1600s and 1700s. And we're talking New England here, but farming was mostly aimed at household subsistence and exchange with neighbors. So farm wives typically kept kitchen gardens and flocks of backyard poultry, and processed food from the fields where farmers grow crops like corn, rye, beans and potatoes, and often managed large orchards to produce hard cider, which apparently was the everyday choice for beverages at the time, and no produce was imported. So you were eating what was grown locally. And then in the late 1800s, kind of getting back to where we were, with the origins of kind of gardening on vacant lots like we were talking about a minute ago. market gardens surrounding cities were also highly productive and helped recycle urban wastes like stable manure. So World War 1, there were an estimated 5 million Victory Gardens. World War 2 was the true high point of home gardening, even in urban areas, and came at a time where regional agriculture unfortunately was already starting the decline that has, you know, really continued. But it's estimated there were more than 18 million Victory Gardens nationwide, during World War 2. And just in New Hampshire, there were over 80,000 registered Victory Gardens, often on converted lawns, and vacant lots. So, you know, I was looking back as well at, again, some of the way that this was promoted and marketed, there were slogans, including, "Grow vitamins at your kitchen door", [Emma E]   Oh, my gosh [Nate B] and "you are what you eat", you know, kind of so going back to World War 2, you know, there, they were using slogans like that, to get people gardening. And at the very peak of Victory Gardens, in World War 2, close to 50% of the nation's food was grown in these gardens.[Emma E]   That is so incredible. And clearly something we're not reaching right now. But during COVID, a lot of people were getting more interested in growing their own food. But perhaps we didn't have the same organization or push to get people to do that in the same way. But, gosh, still still incredibly interesting. So I mean, in terms of, you know, what's going on today, you know, in terms of our food, you know, I mentioned that we're not producing that much food on our own at our own homes. But, you know, like, how are our farms in New Hampshire meeting that demand more locally?[Nate B] Well, I don't have updated figures from this year, I doubt it's changed too much in the aggregate. But in, you know, in modern times, about 5% of food consumed in New Hampshire is actually grown in New Hampshire, the percentage that's actually grown in New Hampshire Gardens is significantly less than that, of course. But you know, the trend that we saw, you know, in the last century, certainly continues with farms and farm land, both continuing to decline and be repurposed for other uses. You know, but CSAs and Market Garden operations have risen in recent years. And when I say recent years, I'm talking decades, not like the last few years, not exactly sure, what's happening right now, in that regard. It's, it's sometimes difficult to get that information, you know, in the current moment, but we can look at some more recent trends. And, you know, there's one organization that is associated with UNH called food solutions New England, and they have a vision that includes increasing the percentage of farmland in New England, from about 5% to 15%. By I think 2040. And that vision includes, you know, 5 to 15% of urban and suburban land, being reclaimed for things like private gardens, small scale community and, and community farms and permaculture. It's, it's really interesting, I'd actually encourage people to, to go to foodsolutionsne.org and, and look at their food vision. It's fascinating, it certainly kind of puts into context. We are what we're doing the connection between gardening and farming, and why I think Extension's role, along with the role of other organizations in promoting this and you know, what, you, you know, listeners at home, you know, why what you're doing is important too, because it's all part of a grander vision for the role of gardening and farming in, you know, in New England lives.[Emma E]   Right. So even if we're not producing enough food, even with that, that, you know, 5 to 15% even if we're not producing all the food, we need in the England for our population, there's a lot of benefits to buying things locally, to having more exposure to farms, to gardens, you know, just just for people learning a bit more about what it takes to grow foods. I think I said earlier, you know, where foods even come from, I'm always amazed with adults that I speak to friends and family that don't know that a tomato plant is a vine, let's say, or, you know, all these examples where you don't even know how something actually grows. So having that connection to food, I do think is quite important.[Nate B] I think there are a lot of benefits. I mean, so if you think about a community garden, that is, you know, one, you know, getting healthy, locally produced food, you know, it's going to increase people's consumption of produce, but it's also fostering community. It's, frankly, a form of exercise. It's, I think anyone can really attest to the sort of mental therapeutic benefits of gardening, it's, you know, it's a great land use, right, it's like, what would be there, if not, for that community garden, and that's been sort of an ongoing historical tension on the land side, you know, community gardens being, you know, removed in, especially in urban environments. And, you know, not typically replaced with something that's going to foster community in the same way, you know, and then at home, I mean, gardening means something a little bit different, I think, to everybody. And we do it for different reasons, certainly, some people garden to actually try and save money on food, that's a potentially tall order. But even if you're not saving money, there are still a lot of benefits, and, you know, kind of going back to, you know, to kids, and so many so many folks have sort of viewed gardening, I think in COVID, as a chance to kind of marry the, you know, sort of the benefits that come of gardening and also like having, having their kids at home, really integrating gardening into their education and seeing that the garden is an amazing classroom.[Emma E]   So silver linings here, in terms of getting outside getting into the garden. In terms of, you know, New Hampshire, if if somebody wanted to see a more historically accurate Victory Garden in action, you know, is there any place you can go?[Nate B] I know of a couple, and folks listening might know of others. One is at the Wright Museum of world war two in Wolfeboro New Hampshire in the Lakes region, which is maintained by Master Gardener volunteer Kristen Kaiser. So typically, they actually partner with Spider Web Farm to start seedlings in their greenhouse, they weren't able to do that this year, because of COVID. So the varieties, you know, that they were doing were, were limited this year. But that's a really cool partnership they have in general. And, you know, talking to Kristen, she said, you know, she kind of estimated 60% of the visitors she spoke with from behind their seven foot tall deer fencing, were new to gardening, but trying to grow something now. And you know, often combined again, with homeschooling in the time of the pandemic, as well as an increased interest in canning. And, you know, we heard, you know, stories of people, you know, not being able to find things like canning lids, and everything because when you start gardening, you realize, you know, if you kind of get it right, all of a sudden you have way more produce than you can eat or even give away, so it kind of naturally leads to an interest in food preservation and canning.[Emma E]   Another ongoing segment that I am thrilled to be able to offer is our featured plant. So basically every every time every time we have an episode, I am going to be telling you all about a really cool plant that's either native to the New Hampshire landscape, that's something that could be grown indoors as a houseplant, or something you might put into your landscape in general, so your garden, your yard. Anybody who knows me knows that I'm a big plant buff. I love talking shop with plants. So this time, I'm going to tell you a little bit about one of my favorite trees, which is the paperbark Maple or Acer griseum If we want to get fancy with the Latin. Paperbark maple is a tree that's actually native to central and eastern China and mixed forests. So that means it grows alongside other deciduous trees that lose their leaves and trees that have needles. Its range is actually pretty small. So you'll just find it really in a few regions in China. This plant was brought to the United States in the late 19th century as an ornamental because it is incredibly beautiful. It's considered a small shade tree, because it grows about 15 to 30 feet tall and about the same width, so 15 to 30 feet wide. It grows pretty slowly. So it's not something that you put up that you where you want to have a whole bunch of shade right away, but it's something that you'll enjoy over the years. It's a tree that likes full sun to part shade, so it will do quite well in the sunniest part of your landscape. Or you can grow it and more of a woodland garden setting so where it's more of an understory plant beneath taller trees, it does prefer a moist soil, but also well drained. So it's not going to like the sandiest dry soils in New Hampshire, it's actually intolerant of drought. But if you have a good loam in your yard, this is a tree you could consider. What makes this tree such a nice ornamental plant is that its trunks and its limbs have a really really beautiful exfoliating cinnamon, reddish bark that peels off in these large curls that stay on the tree. So it's not messy, the bark does stay attached. But it's really interesting looking on this tree pretty much always makes the list of plants that provide, if you will, winter interest because it is beautiful all year round. And you really get to appreciate that beautiful bark in the wintertime once the leaves have fallen. Now the leaves on the tree are kind of interesting, too. So this is a maple. But it has a three parted trifoliate leaf, not unlike poison ivy or say raspberries or blackberries. The upper side of the leaves is kind of a greenish, dark greenish color. But the bottom is more of a blue gray green, which is actually where the species gets its name. The Latin word griseus. Remember the Latin name for this plant is Acer griseum means gray. So that refers to the leaf undersides. So fun fact for you there. It also has really good fall color. So this is one of the things I like about paperbark Maple is that you do tend to get a nice orange or red color that is pretty consistent, you know, some years that may not be quite as vibrant. But this tree has multiple seasons of interest. So it's also a good fall plant. Because this Maple is introduced from China really doesn't have any natural insects, or disease problems that affect that. So you can consider it to be a pretty problem free plant. And it should be hardy to at least zone five, I have seen it grow successfully in zone four. So more northern gardeners can push the limits a bit more, it's definitely going to be happy in Southern New Hampshire. And, you know, I mentioned early on this is a tree from China. So clearly it's it's not native. But one of the perks of this plant is that I don't see it as being much of an invasive threat, because approximately 95% of the seeds that it produces aren't viable. So that means the majority of the seeds that come from that tree, have no chance of germinating to begin with. So, you know, that's great. Some other invasive trees that have been introduced do seed quite well are quite prodigiously so even Japanese maple, you know, depending on where you are in the US Japanese maple, we'll see then quite readily throughout New England, and really down the east coast. The paperbark maples that I've had the pleasure of working with and around have, at most maybe produced one or two seedling trees a year. So this is not a plant that I'm overly concerned about becoming a pest in the garden. The only other downside maybe is that it can be a bit on the expensive side. But I do think it's well worth the investment if you have the room for it. So paperbark maple, really cool tree really cool specimen tree. Excellent for small properties, like I said for woodland gardens near a deck near a patio. Definitely one that I would recommend.Well, I'd like to close things off today with a final gardening tip. A lot of people for the holidays end up either either through their own purchase or from a friend might end up with some sort of holiday plant. You know whether it's an amaryllis, Christmas cactus, maybe a Norfolk Island pine. And you might be curious how to keep that plant alive after the holidays can be a bit challenging, especially if you're if you're not real keen on keeping houseplants. First off, if you really want to keep this plant healthy, and everything I mentioned so far can can live for years and years, you need to pick the right location to keep it in your house. All the plants that are sold as holiday gift plants tend to like bright sunny spots. So if you have a south or a west facing window, it's best if you can put it close to that that light source. Next, you're going to want to make sure that you keep this plant away from drafts as much as possible. So keep it away from appliances, keep it away from doors that are going to be doors to the outside that are going to be opening and closing a lot. And heat registers too can be an issue. So some of us have our windows right next to our heat registers are. But if it's possible to have it located not directly above that source of hot air that can be really helpful to keeping the plant going a bit longer. Temperature is also important. These plants will like a bit warmer temperature. So as long as you keep your house about 60 degrees or so they should be fine. They're going to be happier if your house is 65 to say 80 which you know that that's excessive for for most of us in our homes in New Hampshire. But keeping it about 60 is going to be good and trying to make sure that overnight temperature is not going to dip below too much below 50 degrees definitely the the closer you get to freezing the unhappier most of these plants are going to be. watering to is going to be important to keeping things going. Proper watering means watering when the plant is almost completely dry. So you can see that the soil is dry, you can feel that the soil is dry with your fingers if you actually stick a finger down into the soil. One easy way to kill a houseplant, really any of these gift plants is to water them too much, which often happens or watering them too little. So keep eyes on them. There's no schedule you need to be on. Because it really depends on the conditions in your home, how quickly they're going to dry out and what they're potted in, the pot that there have been planted in. So just keep an eye on it may be necessary to water once a week, maybe twice, you know, maybe once every week and a half or so. One other thing to look at is that most of these plants come with some sort of decorative foil wrapper. And these don't have any drainage in them. So excess water that comes out of the pot when you do water ends up collecting inside that wrapper. And what can happen when the plant is just sitting in the water for a long time is that its roots aren't getting enough oxygen. And it is drowning essentially and root rot becomes more more likely. So either punch some holes in that foil wrapper, get rid of it entirely, or make sure to empty it out after you've watered. And finally I'll say there really shouldn't be any need to fertilize your plants in the winter months. They're not going to be putting on a whole lot of new growth when the when they're not getting a whole lot of light because our days are short when temperatures are cooler. But once we get into the spring so once we get into say April or May it's time to bring out the house plant fertilizer. But if you follow all those things, pay attention to location watering. And then later on in the season come spring giving it some fertilizer, your your holiday gift plants going to be really happy and hopefully you'll be able to hold on to it for year after year.[Nate B] In the beginning of this episode, I asked you to email us with your ideas about what you'd like to hear us cover on the podcast. A couple upcoming episodes that we've already planned are growing herbs indoors and growing citrus trees indoors, perhaps outdoors in the summer. But again, email us at GSG.pod@unh.edu with your ideas and your feedback on this episode. Did you enjoy this podcast? if you're listening to this podcast on the UNH Extension website, make sure to subscribe to the Granite State Gardening podcast on the platform of your choice. as a brand new podcast we would greatly appreciate if you would share this podcast with fellow gardeners. And if you enjoyed this episode, consider giving us an effusive five star review, wherever you're listening. Until next time, keep on growing Granite State gardeners. Granite State gardening is a production of University of New Hampshire Cooperative Extension anequal opportunity educator and employer. the views expressed on this podcast are not necessarily those of the university's, its trustees, or its volunteers. inclusion or exclusion of commercial products in this podcast does not imply endorsement. The University of New Hampshire, US Department of Agriculture and New Hampshire counties cooperate to provide Extension programming in the Granite State. Learn more extension.unh.eduTranscribed by https://otter.ai

Elly Vaughan is the owner/operator of Phoenix Fruit Farm in Belchertown, MA, which is committed to using the most eco-friendly practices to grow delicious, high-quality fruit for you and your family. They use advanced Integrated Pest Management (IPM), and foster a culture of environmental accountability in their daily work. They also focus on orchard cleanliness to prevent pest problems, and nurture pollinators by creating safe habitats for them and using mindful pest management practices.  Web: https://phoenixfruitfarm.com Facebook; Instagram, @phoenixfruitfarm Amherst Area Chamber of Commerce 2020 A+ Awards, “Leader in Innovation.” https://youtu.be/cZS6D-mGc0w    

The Winter Agronomy Roadshows in January for this year will be delivered on-line as a combination of technical lectures, podcasts and interactive discussion sessions (https://www.fas.scot/news/winter-agronomy-digital-roadshows-2021/) . In this podcast, Professor Fiona Burnett of Scotland's Rural College talks research and the practical approaches of Integrated Pest Management (IPM) with Dr Henry Creissen (SRUC) and David Bell, a farmer from East Fife and IPM champion.

The logistical and legislative problems caused by invasive pest species are discussed in this interview with Hakan Kjellberg, technical director of Anticimex. Pests don’t need passports nor do they read labels! Based in Stockholm, Sweden Hakan Kjellberg is the technical director of international pest control servicing company, Anticimex – a global leader in preventative pest control. Taking the brown marmorated stink bug (Halyomorpha halys) as the example, this insect is now an established pest in orchards in Northern Italy where it causes problems attacking trees and rendering the fruit unsalable. However, Hakan reports that just a few weeks ago a colony was found and identified within containers in a logistics warehouse in Sweden. The risk is, just as it is with other invasive species – will this pest become established and cause a problem in Sweden? Hakan stresses that across Europe a common approach, throughout the EU, should be adopted for these types of invasive species. As for control of this pest in this specific indoor Swedish location, Hakan points out that there are no pesticides registered for this use – only for outdoor agricultural usage. He explains how Integrated Pest Management (IPM) is the approach and in this situation physical removal is the key, for example by vacuuming. Just one of the many ‘tools in the pest controllers’ IPM tool box.’ With climate change there are a likely to be more and more invasive species arriving, which run the risk of becoming endemic. Hakan stresses what a significant role professional pest controllers can play in providing an early warning system of invasive arrivals. Subscribe on the latest insights on the pest management industry. For more breaking news, white papers, videos and more: www.futura-germany.com Follow us on social media: LinkedIn: @futuragermany Instagram: @futuragermany acebook: @futuragermany If you want to be part of Talking Pest Management email us at info@futura-germany.com and join the conversation @ Futura Germany Futura Germany Podcast Listen on Spotify: https://spoti.fi/2KPaC4u Listen on Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/2xmJqkZ Or on every other platform: @Talking Pest Management

The actual control of pests for clients needs to become the target for the industry, rather than technicians simply acting as pesticide applicators is the key take home message from this interview with Dr Dini Miller. For the last 21 years Dr Dini Miller has been involved with urban pest management based within the Department of Entomology at Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Virginia, USA. She specialises in structural pests and insects within the house – in particular bed bugs, cockroaches, ants and termites. She has worked extensively in low income housing with the US Department of Housing & Urban Development (HUD) winning their inaugural Healthy Homes Hero award in 2018. She is also a co-editor of Advances in the Biology and Management of Modern Bed Bugs. To begin, Dr Miller talks about Integrated Pest Management (IPM) and how this phrase, so frequently used within urban pest management, initially came about. IPM owes its origins to agriculture back in the 1970s following the wide scale use of DDT on a very broad range of pests after World War II and the subsequent build up of genetic resistance – as captured by Rachel Carson in her book Silent Spring. Basically, farmers inspected their crops for pests and assessed the economic value of them applying a pesticide to reduce pests to a manageable level. The term has been taken up by those in urban pest management where it is less appropriate – what is the manageable level of a pest such as a bed bug? Nil. People don’t want a single insect. Dini proposes the term should be changed to Assessment Pest Management – clients then know their problem is going to be assessed. Numbers of pests would be collected both before and after treatment. Customers will then be able to understand what the results are. Dini describes her work within the HUD low income housing. Here cockroach problems can be so severe that she can catch 16,000 on three sticky board traps over one single night. Contract pricing comes under discussion – with the lowest taken and the maths applied as to how much time can be spent in each apartment (two to three minutes), this means that technicians literally have time only to dash in and spray. This is pesticide application NOT pest control. Time and persistence is required to eliminate pests. A debate follows between Dini and our Talking Pest Management host, Daniel Schröer, regarding the use of the IPM term, particularly its value in differing environments, the food industry being one in particular, where it is more appropriate, than say in an apartment. The interview finishes with a heartfelt plea by Dr Miller that the industry must change its perception with the public. A perception which basically hasn’t changed for 50 years. New young people have come into the industry, new methods and technologies are employed yet the image is still one of simply spraying insecticide. Technicians are professionals, they are trained, thinking human beings making decisions – they must be presented and perceived differently. Subscribe on the latest insights on the pest management industry. For more breaking news, white papers, videos and more: www.futura-germany.com Follow us on social media: LinkedIn: @futuragermany Instagram: @futuragermany F acebook: @futuragermany If you want to be part of Talking Pest Management email us at info@futura-germany.com and join the conversation @ Futura Germany Futura Germany Podcast Listen on Spotify: https://spoti.fi/2KPaC4u Listen on Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/2xmJqkZ Or on every other platform: @Talking Pest Management

Washington potato growers are on a path to limit insecticide-resistant pests. Hear about the industry’s accelerating Integrated Pest Management (IPM) practices in this episode. The post Picking Up Steam: IPM in Potatoes appeared first on FMC Good to Grow Podcast.

This week’s interview with Alain van Lidth de Jeude majors on the importance of Integrated Pest Management and its significance to the professional pest control industry. Alain van Lidth de Jeude is regional director for Rentokil Pest Control with responsibility for Latin America and Europe. Since 2006 Alain has been involved with CEPA (Confederation of European Pest Management Associations) not only as a member of the board of directors, but also in the position of treasurer. Alain details how important CEPA is, especially in its role striving for a better world within the professional pest management industry. Our Talking Pest Management host, Daniel Schröer, raises the subject of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) and the significance within this of Integrated Pest Management (IPM). What is so important about IPM? To the uneducated, pest control simply involves catching pests, but Alain explains how inaccurate this description is. Professional control is all about preventative programmes to make sure there are no pests in your environment. IPM is all about advising, consulting and guiding so as to avoid any pest infestation – without pests you don’t need any chemicals. Quizzed as to the value of the MoU to stakeholders and why stakeholders should sign-up, Alain uses an analogy from the medical world to explain its worth. Everyone understands the value when they are ill of being treated by a certified professional – a doctor. A doctor is a skilled and trained professional, a doctor can make the correct diagnosis and prescribe appropriate treatment. The same is true of a pest professional. They are trained, updated, informed of new techniques and only use chemicals as a last resort. Alain stresses that it is the moral commitment of all stakeholders to only collaborate and use the services of those companies with trained professionals who comply with the principles of IPM. Subscribe to our channel to stay up-to-date on the latest insights on the pest management industry. For more breaking news, white papers, videos and more: www.futura-germany.com Follow us on social media: LinkedIn: @futuragermany Instagram: @futuragermany Facebook: @futuragermany If you want to be part of Talking Pest Management email us at info@futura-germany.com and join the conversation @ Futura Germany Futura Germany Podcast Listen on Spotify: https://spoti.fi/2KPaC4u Listen on Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/2xmJqkZ Or on every other platform: @Talking Pest Management

Releasing beneficial insects vs attracting biodiversity to your crops is a controversial biocontrol topic, but on this episode of #CropCareConvos, Bobby brings the passion out of JP Michaud (Kansas State University professor and CropWalk scientific advisor) as they discuss conservation (attracting insects) vs. augmentation (releasing insects) approaches to biological control in Integrated Pest Management (IPM).

Hawkeye and Lens may have had too much fun making this episode but they still deliver timely horticultural and pest management strategies for your Integrated Pest Management (IPM) needs. This week; more plum curculio, diseases by Dr. Cooley and the skinny on thinning from Dr. Greene.

Tillage Specialist Ciaran Collins joins Michael Hennessy on this week's Tillage Edge to discuss aphids and Barley Yellow Dwarf Virus or BYDV.   Ciaran outlined that all the spring cereals (wheat, barley and oats) are potentially at risk from BYDV infection and indicated that trial results has shown yield decreased of 2 tons per hectare due to BYDV.   The best timing for control is at the 4 leaf stage, with crops emerging in early to mid-April at a moderate risk (depending on your location).  Ciaran described the importance of Integrated Pest Management (IPM) measures such as assessing risk based on location and time of planting but he also stressed the importance of infield monitoring.   Ciaran also touched on insecticide resistance in aphid populations.  KDR resistance is widespread but may vary from field to field.  He recommends crop inspection four to five days after application to monitor control and if live juvenile aphids are found there may be resistance in the field.   However, he pointed out if the first application was completed correctly then a reapplication of an aphicide should not be completed as no further control will be achieved.   For more episodes and information from the Tillage Edge podcast go to https://www.teagasc.ie/crops/crops/the-tillage-edge-podcast/ The Tillage Edge is a co-production with LastCastMedia.

One of the worst things people can do is attempt to undertake pest control problems on their own. Through the system of Integrated Pest Management (IPM) everyone plays a role in keeping the home free of bugs and rodents, and with the help and guidance of a qualified professional, you can be confident that the necessary repairs, maintenance and extermination have been done RIGHT. Our host, comedian and ex-exterminator Larry Izzo has a talk with Joe Runco from Accurate Pest Solutions in Fort Myers, FL, and we find out some of the hilarious and sometimes dangerous issues that can result from consumers biting off more of a pest control problem than they can chew. From angry bees to hardcore ants that attack like crazy, you need help. Plus Larry explains how homeowners lose thousands on their houses, and reveals his past as a real cowboy (the 2-gun Whitmire System!), while Joe tells us about one thing that DEFINITELY gets rid of all the iguanas in its path down in Florida.

This week, I talk to Adam Turtle, an 80-year-old scholar and researcher who has spent much of his life, researching a lot of rare plants in the US that can be used for regenerative purposes. We spend a lot of this episode is discussing bamboo. We talked about his Research Farm that has over 300 varieties of bamboo, his thoughts about building soil, his philosophy on life, how they ended up developing their niche which was providing large, high-quality bamboo clumps to zoos all over the US. It was a fascinating conversation and I highly encourage that you listen to the episode even if you're not interested in bamboo as we also go into Adam's years of being involved in the regenerative agriculture movement. Also in this episode: >> How it took 15 years to figure out how to raccoon-proof his garden >> How his attention to soil health has resulted in impressive tumeric and ginger growth >> Why bamboo is the fastest growing biomass and well suited for a southern climate >> A discussion of the benefits of some invasive plants >> The various uses of bamboo: piping, fencing, forage, timber, wind and noise barrier, soil building, and fiber. About the Guest: Adam Turtle is a fellow Fellow of the Linnean Society, former Boy Scout, and at various times, cowboy, fisherman, truck driver, chef, homeless bum, woodworker, sculptor, preacher, theosopher and general trouble maker left the mainstream in 1970 to pursue a quest for insight into good stewardship -- this led to ethnobotanical studies (on the land, primarily with occasional forays into academia) -- lots of wood lore, wild crafting, gardening, etc, Adam began working with bamboos in '79, Permaculture in '81 and again in '88 (both with B. Mollison), Integrated Pest Management (IPM) in '93, soil building and water management are ongoing. He aspires to become a better earth citizen and general systems synthesist. Although possessing only an eighth-grade diploma, Adam is an alum (non-matriculating) of San Antonio College, Oklahoma University, the University of Arizona, the University of Maryland and has taught at several others. As Helen Bullard said in "Crafts and Craftsmen of the Tennessee Mountains", "His degrees are Nth!"

Are you using Integrated Pest Management (IPM) in your garden? Are you spraying BT in your garden? Do you know what impacts BT has? Have you ever released ladybugs and they flew away? Do you know what beneficial nematodes to drench your soil with? Does your potting soil have herbicide residue in it? All this and more!

Integrated pest management (IPM) is a hot topic, but it's not a new idea. In this episode we find out who's doing what, and why, along the road towards integrated pest management. We hear from Warwickshire arable farmer Rob Fox, AHDB's Jon Knight, Emma Hamer from the NFU and Alison Stewart, all the way from New Zealand's Foundation for Arable Research. View AHDB resources on IPM (https://ahdb.org.uk/Tags/IPM) The AHDB Agronomists' Conference 2019 (https://ahdb.org.uk/agconf19) will focus on ways to achieve integrated pest management. Image: Natural enemy Asilidae Diotctria rufipes, by Ian Andrews. The larvae predate the larvae of other insects and the adults predate other insects on the wing. Find out more in the Encyclopaedia of pests and natural enemies (https://ahdb.org.uk/pests)

Wolfman is on the line to talk about IPM, a hot topic when it comes to pest control. Tune in to fully understand what IPM is, and the different categories of pest control strategies that it encompasses. On this episode, Wolfman and Jordan go through each control strategy and delve in to what is most applicable to the cannabis grower. Starting with biological controls, Wolfman talks about different predatory bugs, and some interesting new products growers are using to implement them. Then the topic of discussion turns to cultural pest control, including things like cleanliness, quarantining, and generally making your room less pest friendly. Maybe the most applicable control method- physical control- spawns a long conversation about diatomaceous earth and it's many uses in combating pests. Jordan and Wolfman round out the show by talking about different pest sprays, which Wolfman approves of, and which he says to avoid. ---June 15th the GrowPass Membership Program drops! mygrowpass.com is going to provide you growers with additional grow strategy content, exclusive discounts on a wide range of grow products, personal one on one connection with the GrowCast crew, and almost $5,000 in grow product prizes given away to our members every quarter!!! June 15th, mygrowpass.com ... Check it out!!!--- Tip from Jordan: Be careful letting anyone into your grow room- ESPECIALLY PETS! They might be carrying more than just fleas!

Learn how Iwasaki Bros. has reduced their environmental impact through Integrated Pest Management (IPM), bee monitoring, and the flagship farm program. "The Iwasaki's have always been interested in sustainability, so [becoming a flagship farm] was something that came very natural to them." - Kathleen Baughman. Learn more about this episode of PolliNation at http://blogs.oregonstate.edu/pollinationpodcast/2019/01/28/kathleen-baughman/

Debbie Raphael is the Director of the San Francisco Department of the Environment and believes that cities can take bold action to address environmental harm. A scientist by training and public servant by profession, Debbie has spent most of her career working in government to ensure that everyone has an equal right to a safe and healthy environment.   At the City of Santa Monica and City of San Francisco, Debbie crafted first-in-the-nation policies on toxics reduction, green building, Integrated Pest Management (IPM), healthy nail salons, and the precautionary principle -- a decision-making framework that protects the public from exposure to harm even in the face of scientific uncertainty. In 2011, Governor Edmund G. Brown appointed Debbie as the Director of the California Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC). In her tenure with DTSC, Debbie implemented the state’s groundbreaking Safer Consumer Products Law to better regulate which chemicals can be used in products sold or manufactured in California. Debbie Joins Sustainable Nation to Discuss: San Francisco’s Climate Action Strategy and how it differs from other cities Global Climate Action Summit hosted in San Francisco September 2018 Establishing cross-sector partnerships to move sustainability forward in communities Advice and recommendations for sustainability leaders Debbie's Final Five Question Responses: What is one piece of advice you would give other sustainability professionals that might help them in their careers? Ask for help. Admit when you don't know the answer. It gives you tremendous credibility, especially when you're on the bleeding edge or the cutting edge for your city or your organization. We don't all know everything is going to turn out okay, so my favorite word in government, and my guess is this works in businesses as well, is the word "pilot." Call it a pilot. It gives you the opportunity to take a risk, to make mistakes, to learn to admit when you don't know something, and then when you do have success, to institutionalize it moving forward. What are you most excited about right now in the world of sustainability? When people ask me, "what gives you hope?" For me, it's this idea of the power of healing the planet. It's this unbelievable data coming out of the Marin Carbon Project and the University of California, Berkeley and so many soil scientists from around the world who are understanding that we have an untapped resource in our soils that will actually help us pull CO2 out of the air, increase productivity, increase resilience to drought. If we do a very simple thing, use compost on our agricultural lands, on our range lands, change the way we do agriculture very simply in ways that mimic natural systems. When we take those actions, I am convinced we can turn the table on climate change and we can actually see improvements to those levels of CO2. It doesn't mean it's the only thing we need to do, but it's the thing that gives me the most excitement. It's not high tech, it just needs to be high scale. What is one book you would recommend sustainability professionals read? My favorite these days is Drawdown by Paul Hawken. He published it last year in 2017. I was one of many people on his advisory panel. I love the concrete aspects of it. Being a scientist, I always like to say, "what is the data?". How do we know that that action makes a difference? And by looking around the world and choosing the hundred most significant actions to draw down CO2 out of the atmosphere, there are some surprises and some interesting ideas for cities, for individuals and for institutions. It's a great read and a very important reality. What are some of your favorite resources or tools that really help you in the work that you do? Well, I love Ted Talks and I am a big believer in using the power of the visual to lead and to inspire. One of my favorite Ted Talks is Simon Sinek's Start with the Why: how great leaders inspire action. Before I even started here a little over three years ago, I had every member of my department watch that Ted Talk. It's about just over 20 minutes long. His premise is that people don't buy what you do, they buy why you do it. We in the environmental movement are in the behavior change business and if we're going to get people to actually change their behavior, they're going to need to want to do it from their own internal "Why?". Not because it's good for them or someone says they should. It's got to come from themselves and so I find that Ted Talk to be particularly instructive and informative as we design our own behavior change campaigns. Where can our listeners go to learn more about you and the work that you were leading for the San Francisco Department of the Environment? Well, like all good government organizations, we have a website. We're actually very proud of our website, SFEnvironment.org. It's translated into multiple languages. It is very user friendly. We also are incredibly active on social media, so you can follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. You can follow us @SFenvironment. I have to say I love our Instagram feed. I look at it every day to smile and be inspired by what I see.

Integrated Pest Management (IPM) expert Patrick Byers of the University of Missouri Extension shares what the home gardener should do before you spray anything on an insect. Plus, he gives practical suggestions for how to manage aphids, squash bugs, squash vine borers, cabbage worms, slugs, and Japanese beetles -- all organically and with minimal spraying!  View full blog post with show notes here. 

  On today’s special bonus episode of POPagriculture, Steve discusses the basics of Integrated Pest Management (IPM), a growing strategy that focuses on long-term prevention of pests through a mixture of techniques like biological control, habitat manipulation and use of resistant varieties. Listen to learn the ABCs of IPM!  

Greg Pennyroyal, Vineyard Manager at Wilson Creek Winery and Vineyards in Temecula, California, discusses the appearance of vine mealybug in the Temecula Valley AVA, Integrated Pest Management (IPM) techniques, and how growers, academics, extensionists, and students came together to collectively monitor and manage this pest. References: San Jacinto College Vine Mealy Bug Video Sustainable and Organic Control of Vine Mealybug: Two Growers, Two Approaches Suterra “Vine Mealybug Flares Up in Central Coast” - Wines & Vines Wilson Creek Winery and Vineyards Listen to the latest science and research with the Sustainable Winegrowing Podcast. Since 1994, Vineyard Team has been your resource for workshops and field demonstrations, research, and events dedicated to the stewardship of our natural resources. Learn more at www.vineyardteam.org.

The National Pest Management Association presents the NPMA podcast series. In episode #7 of this series, pest management expert Greg Baumann from NPMA discusses the Integrated Pest Management (IPM) approach to preventing pests from becoming a nuisance in your home. Greg Baumann   More information is at NPMA's website, www.pestworld.org. The National Pest Management Association is a non-profit organization, whose mission includes consumer education on issues related to pests and the potential threats they may pose to public health and property. Celebrating its 75th year in 2008, the National Pest Management Association remains committed to the protection of public health, food and property. Download the podcast (00:05:29 stereo MP3 file, 7.6  mb) Keywords:  npma, pests, integrated pest management, ipm, exterminator, pest control, pest management, lubetkin Technorati Tags: npma,pests,integrated pest management,ipm,exterminator,pest control,pest management,lubetkin del.icio.us Tags: npma,pests,integrated pest management,ipm,exterminator,pest control,pest management,lubetkin Produced by Professional Podcasts LLC, Cherry Hill, NJ

The National Pest Management Association presents the NPMA podcast series. In episode #8 of this series, pest management expert Greg Baumann from NPMA discusses the Integrated Pest Management (IPM) approach to preventing pests from becoming a nuisance in your home. Greg Baumann   More information is at NPMA's website, www.pestworld.org. The National Pest Management Association is a non-profit organization, whose mission includes consumer education on issues related to pests and the potential threats they may pose to public health and property. Celebrating its 75th year in 2008, the National Pest Management Association remains committed to the protection of public health, food and property. Download the podcast (00:05:29 stereo MP3 file, 7.6  mb) Keywords:  npma, pests, integrated pest management, ipm, exterminator, pest control, pest management, lubetkin Technorati Tags: npma,pests,integrated pest management,ipm,exterminator,pest control,pest management,lubetkin del.icio.us Tags: npma,pests,integrated pest management,ipm,exterminator,pest control,pest management,lubetkin Produced by Professional Podcasts LLC, Cherry Hill, NJ

Episode 30: Brenton Kelly, an expert in Integrated Pest Management (IPM), talks about alternatives to pesticides and least toxic pest control methods.