Evergreen Extracts

Integrated Pest Management (IPM) is a sustainable, science-based, decision-making process that combines biological, cultural, physical and chemical tools to identify, manage and reduce risk from pests and pest management tools and strategies in a way that minimizes overall economic, health and environmental risks (ipminstitute.org).

Useful Web Sites

• IPM Institute of North America
• National Pesticide Information Center
  
• WSU PICOL Database
  
• WSDA Pesticide, Fertilizer, and Marijuana
  
• WSDA Product Label Database
  

Definitions:

• Preharvest Interval (PHI): The preharvest interval is the wait time between a pesticide application and when a crop can be harvested. 

Key Practices in Agricultural IPM

• Soil Preparation: We conduct annual soil tests for nutrient content and microorganisms. These tests are interpreted by a certified agronomist. We also use raised beds, subsurface drip irrigation, a surface mulch layer, and crop rotation / interplanting.
• Planting: We start by choosing varieties that perform well in our environment. We also choose to plant from seed rather than clones, which reduces many potential problems. Our plant spacing is very dense which encourages the plants to have a single stem morphology and form a closed canopy – this allows optimal airflow while protecting against weeds and wind damage.
• Forecasting: We use computer software which connects to several weather systems. This helps predict the best times to irrigation and also to predict seasonal insect outbreaks.
• Pest Trapping: We place yellow-sticky traps to monitor insect fluctuations. We also regularly dust the tops of our beds to examine the tracks left behind by insects, birds, and other animals.
• Monitoring: We examine our entire field bi-weekly to catch and potential problems early
• Thresholds: Before applying a product to treat any problem, we first determine that the pest or pathogen actually represents a tangible threat to our crop or future crops.
• Cultural Controls: We time our planting to ensure our crop is harvested early in the season, before serious outbreaks usually occur. We also apply row covers to our seedlings, which protects against predation from most insects as well as birds.
• Biological Controls: We provide greenbelts and native plants to encourage beneficial organisms. We also use nesting boxes for birds. Commercially available biological controls such as nematodes, bacteria, and fungi are also used to control pests.
• Chemical Controls: The only chemical controls we used are those derived from plants or minerals and they are all certified organic.
• Recordkeeping: We keep a journal of pests observed and treatments applied.



Biological and Chemical Pest Control Products Used

All of the biological and chemical pest control products we use are cerfied organic through OMRI or WSDA. We select the products because of their relative safety and appropriateness for the pests we are trying to control.