Project Overview

Reports

Commodities

• Vegetables: cucurbits, tomatoes

Target Pests

Practices

Problem. Diseases and insects threaten vegetable production throughout the United States wherever vegetables are produced. These pests, including pathogens (diseases), insects, and mites, cause negative economic impacts directly through crop damage as well as indirectly through costs associated with pest management. Additionally, integrated pest management (IPM) strategies are constantly evolving due to emergence of pesticide resistance, development and release of new cultivars with resistance, and development and refinement of cultural management strategies, and stakeholders need to regularly be informed on the most up-to-date and relevant management methods. While numerous traditional resources are available for disease and insect IPM for commercial vegetable production, there is currently no collective, mobile-friendly resource from which stakeholders can obtain IPM information for diseases and insects in commercial vegetable production in the Southeast. Approach. Researchers and Extension specialists from universities within the southeastern U.S., many of whom are members of the well-established Southeast Vegetable Extension Workers (SEVEW) and contribute annually to the production of the Southeast U.S. Vegetable Crop Handbook, will create content for MyIPM: Vegetables, a smart device application that builds off of the existing MyIPM App Series that is supported by the Southern Integrated Pest Management Center. These MyIPM: Vegetables team members and project personnel will use data to create the MyIPM: Vegetables database from which MyIPM: Vegetables will run. MyIPM: Vegetables team members will also educate stakeholders on the availability and use of MyIPM: Vegetables to obtain IPM information for disease and insect management in cucurbits and tomatoes. Impact. MyIPM: Vegetables will serve as another avenue through which the SEVEW can educate stakeholders, including producers, crop consultants, and agricultural educators, and make available up-to-date information on IPM of insects and diseases in cucurbits and tomatoes (and eventually other vegetables). The availability of MyIPM: Vegetables will make it easier for stakeholders to quickly access research-based IPM information for disease and insect management in cucurbits and tomatoes. As such, stakeholders will be able to more quickly identify disease and insect issues within crops, learn available management strategies and practices for identified pests, make informed decisions or recommendations on the most effective management strategies and practices for operations, and improve the use of IPM on farms. In doing so, producers will not only be able to improve management of diseases and insects that threaten their crops and reduce losses due to disease but also increase product yield, improve product quality, and increase profitability. In addition, the use of IPM will help to prevent the potential over-reliance on the use of pesticides, which will help to sustain product availability and reduce negative impacts on the environment.

1. Develop integrated pest management (IPM) content for important diseases and insects of cucurbits and tomatoes, for a new smart device-based app, MyIPM: Vegetables, and build developed content into a database for use with the existing MyIPM platform to provide stakeholders a new tool for quick, mobile-friendly access to IPM information
2. Educate stakeholders within the cucurbit and tomato industries about the availability of MyIPM: Vegetables and how to use the app to make better IPM decisions for insect and disease management