Project Overview

Reports

Commodities

• Additional Plants: herbs

• Ecosystem: Ecosystem

• Human Health: workers, residents, applicators

• Vegetables: carrots, celery, other

Target Pests

Practices

• Pest Management: cultural control, decision support system, mechanical control, monitoring/scouting, pesticide application timing, pesticide resistance management

• Crop Production: cropping systems

• Production Systems: agroecosystems

This 1-year critical issues grant proposal focuses on a devastating crop specialist, the carrot weevil (Listronotus oregonensis), which threatens carrots, parsley, and celery in key production regions of North America. The carrot weevil (hereafter, CW) is a small snout beetle whose larvae feed on the stalk, crown, and roots of plants, causing severe injury and plant death. Progress towards management of this pest remains sporadic at best, and as a result, there is heavy reliance on insecticides, which are ineffective and routinely applied blindly. Key constraints to improving CW management are 1) lack of broader knowledge of growers’ IPM practices and knowledge networks across regions where focal crops are grown, and 2) lack of research-based information on the relative costs and benefits of IPM strategies for CW at the commercial field scale.

We propose an interdisciplinary approach to identify social and biological factors that influence the efficacy of CW management tactics across affected states in the Great Lakes and mid-Atlantic regions of the U. S. Our specific objectives are to 1A) develop and disseminate a survey instrument to compile regional knowledge and adoption of IPM practices against vegetable insect pests, particularly CW, 1B) assess the importance of knowledge networks in implementation of IPM practices against vegetable pests, particularly CW, and 2) conduct a cost-benefit analysis of CW management strategies in conventional versus delayed planting scenarios, using fresh parsley as a model system. Our goal is to identify key management-based factors that influence the efficacy of carrot weevil IPM tactics, so we can synthesize and develop modern management solutions. Although manipulative aspects of this proposal are focused in Ohio, this project represents the first regional effort to address critical CW knowledge gaps and develop future steps towards successful CW management across affected regions. Our proposal directly responds to multiple desired outcomes identified by the North Central Integrated Pest Management Center’s Critical Issues Grant Program, including: a) improved understanding of current IPM issues across disciplines, crops and states, b) increased collaboration among diverse scientific and extension communities in addressing IPM challenges/priorities, and c) improved information exchange and knowledge sharing.

1A. Develop and disseminate a survey instrument to compile regional knowledge and adoption of IPM practices against vegetable insect pests, particularly CW.

1B. Assess the importance of knowledge networks in implementation of IPM practices against vegetable pests, particularly CW.

2. Conduct a cost-benefit analysis of CW management strategies in conventional versus delayed planting scenarios, using fresh parsley as a model system.