Originally Posted by
yellow dog
I would strongly encourage you to become a member of Landscape Ontario and take full advantage of the programs they offer. IPM designation is one of the many courses and designations they offer. I worked in the Agriculture, Horticulture Industry for most of my life in all aspects of hard and soft landscaping before landing a position with a number of Municipalities as Chief Horticulturist , Maintenance Technician and Property Manager. I encourage Bio where it works but sometimes a stronger product is needed when used correctly. An example was the creation of a 25 acre soccer field I was asked to be involved with from start to finish and maintenance schedule. The land was cleared, leveled ,correct slope for soccer pitch as well as a pond for irrigating. I took into consideration, soil type (sandy loam )and plant pest, diseases, native weeds. I was in a unique situation having much experience(training) with turf grass species and greenhouse management liquid fertilizer injection. The grass seed mixture I had made up was a drought tolerant and disease resistant fescue grass seed. I chose an endophyte enhanced fescue grass seed that is resistant to white crubs that ravage most lawns that are grown in sandy soil. So long story short after a couple of years the grass seed mixture grew extremely well with a liquid fertilizer being injected into the irrigation system watering the soccer field. The third year white crubs did appear in the majority of the lawns in that municipality i was working for but the soccer field was not affected because of the endophyte enhanced grass seed. If I had not used this grass seed mixture then the entire soccer field would have to be treated with a very potent chemical at a huge cost to tax payers.
I have not found a good cost effective Organic base selective herbicide sold off the shelf at garden centres, Home Depot, TSC etc. only Weed B Gone . I have done test plots with this product many times before the pesticide ban was enforced with very poor results. It does not even come close to such excellent products as Par 3. Large scale application such as a 25 acre soccer field using Weed B Gone would be in the $20,000.00 range but using a product such as Par 3 would cost in $2,600.00 range. Big difference ! Weed B Gone multiple applications are needed to possibly rid all broadleaf weeds. Par 3 usually one application does the trick.
Yes an IPM approach can be used on food crops but it takes allot of work gaining the knowledge and hands on experience needed to identify plant pest and weeds and organic solutions keeping cost in check and amount of applications needed.. Most food crop growers will use what works and opt for the sure thing ,chemical pesticides/herbicides most cost effective(spray application).
An organic soap base products work well on aphids, leaf hoppers and other sucking and chewing insects because these soaps are not harmful to the environment or ecosystem. I would choose this organic soap application rather than chemical application in this scenario . Having this organic/ chemical knowledge puts you in a better position deciding whats the best solution and less impact on the environment.
So the more knowledge you and your staff have at the garden centre the better for your business and it's reputation. I would not sell an organic product without knowing it truly is effective. Not many of them work well compared to the now banned chemical products that were once sold to homeowners. Insect traps are good such as the sticky traps but only on a very small scale in ones home.
