by Denis Crawford
Pest management in interior spaces is no different to pest management in other situations such as broadacre agriculture, commercial horticulture, or home gardens. Notice that I used the word management rather than eradication. Complete eradication is difficult, if not impossible, in most situations. What we need to do is manage pests down to a level that is acceptable to our clients and us.
This is where Integrated Pest Management (IPM) can be useful. IPM has been used widely since the 1970s both indoors and outdoors, and is based on the principle of only using pesticides as a last resort. A far cry from the days when growers sprayed chemicals by the calendar, and rarely ventured into crops to have a look at what was actually there.
The principles of IPM include monitoring and identification, prevention, cultural controls, biological controls and lastly, and only when absolutely necessary, pesticides. Monitoring plants is a fine idea but it will only work if you know what you are seeing. Is the insect or other invertebrate, a pest, a beneficial, or benign? I believe that knowledge is vital to making any pest management system work.
I will outline case studies for a couple of different pests showing how to apply these IPM principles at Connect, Discover, Thrive Interior Plantscape Association 2017 conference in Melbourne March 2nd – 3rd. I am excited to be presenting ‘Pest Management for Interior Spaces’ in addition to entertaining delegates at the ‘insect’ themed conference dinner, ‘Butterfly’s Ball and Grasshopper’s Feast’.
Interior Plantscape Association Conference 2017 will be an excellent opportunity for you to gain knowledge & education about the pests that bug you when maintaining your plant hire contracts.
If you have questions about a pest that you would like covered at the conference email info@interiorplantscape.asn.au your concerns so I can address them during my presentation.
See you in Melbourne!
Denis Crawford
Denis Crawford has been working with insects one way or another for 35 years. He began in agricultural entomology, then moved into domestic pest control, followed by a stint working for an office plant hire company. He later joined an Integrated Pest Management consultancy servicing vineyards, glasshouse tomato complexes, rose nurseries, vegetable crops, and specialist tree nurseries. He has written for agricultural and horticultural magazines about pest management for many years. He currently writes for Hort Journal Australia and Organic Gardener magazine. He is the author of Garden, Pests, Diseases & Good Bugs and co-author of Backyard Insects.