Oregon
Here are summaries of some of the IPM research, innovations and projects going on in Oregon, or benefitting Oregon agriculture, communities and natural areas. Projects listed here are not necessarily funded by the Western IPM Center.
- Eco-Label Programs Promote IPM, but Aren't Perfect
-
Eco-label programs have clear benefits and promote more sustainable pest-management and growing practices. They also provide certain benefits for growers but have downsides as well. Significant differences between the programs can make judging eco labels challenging for consumers, and with dozens of similar yet competing certification programs and standards, chaos is likely for the foreseeable future.
- Hoping a Tiny Wasp Has a Huge Impact in Controlling Spotted Wing Drosophila
-
As South Korean imports go, Ganaspis brasiliensis will never have the popular cachet of pop sensations BTS or TV dramas like Squid Game, but for small fruit growers the tiny wasp might become the biggest superstar of all. That’s because Ganaspis brasiliensis is a parasitic wasp that lays eggs into the larvae of the spotted-wing drosophila fruit fly, an invasive insect that’s been plaguing growers of small fruit and berries since it was accidentally introduced into the mainland United States in 2008.
- Work Group Aims to Make New Endangered Species Rules Workable
-
“If it’s so complex that it’s impossible, then no one wins.”
That was the key takeaway from a recent two-day workshop in Vancouver, Washington about implementing new U.S. Environmental Protection Agency pesticide-use rules to protect endangered and threatened species.
- Using UV Light to Kill Powdery Mildew on Grapes
-
Instead of relying solely on fungicides to control powdery mildew on winegrapes, growers may one day – and one day reasonably soon – have an effective non-chemical option: light. Specifically, light in the form of spore-killing ultraviolet UV-C radiation, delivered directly to the plant by a self-driving tractor moving through vineyard rows autonomously at night.
- Plant Risk Evaluator Tool Helps Identify Potentially Problematic Plants
-
The easiest pest to manage is the one that’s not there. It’s true for any pest type – destructive insects, hungry rodents or fast-spreading weeds. No management technique is more effective or less costly than preventing that pest from becoming established in a new area to begin with.
That’s why prevention and avoidance are first two principles of integrated pest management’s “PAMS Approach,” with monitoring and suppression following behind. It’s also the rationale behind the Plant Risk Evaluator Tool, an online database to evaluate the potential for ornamental and horticultural plants to become invasive weeds in different areas and environments
- Exploring a Fiery Method for Replacing Invasive Grasses
-
In California and throughout the West, land managers face huge challenges on huge acreage. Threats include invasive annual grasses, drier summers and changing fire regimes. And those threats combine – the invasive grasses outcompete native perennial grasses and become flash fuels that exacerbate wildfires in landscapes already at risk of burning.
To combat the combined threat, UC Davis researchers are testing a burn-and-replant method as a combined solution.
- Grassland Restoration Effects on Native Bees and Spiders
-
Throughout the West, many native grasslands have been degraded – overgrazed, overtilled, burned or overrun by invasive weeds like Medusahead or cheatgrass. While many restoration efforts only look at plant communities or endangered species, this research looked at native spider and bee communities.
- Rooting for the Underdogs of the Pollination World
-
As pollinating insects, bees get all the credit – but they don’t do all the work. new research is documenting the unsung heroes of the pollinating world.
- Promoting IPM in Wenatchee Valley Pear Production
-
In some pear-growing regions in the Pacific Northwest, IPM is a widely accepted, effective and economical way to manage pear psylla and codling moth, the crop’s key insect pests. In the Wenatchee Valley, however, IPM adoption has been low and the barriers to adoption high. But researchers are working to change that.
- Growers Helping Growers Avoid a Devastating Cranberry Disease
-
It sounds like an ad for a 1950s drive-in horror movie: Zombie plants emerge from New Jersey bogs! Can experts stop their catastrophic cross-county crawl before it’s too late? But this is not “The Day of the Triffids” meets “Creature from the Black Lagoon.” Instead, it’s the latest Western Integrated Pest Management Center-funded research, a bi-coastal project looking to keep West Coast cranberry farms safe from false blossom disease, an insect-spread pathogen that’s plaguing East Coast cranberry producers.
- Oregon Research Improves Residual Toxicity Warnings to Benefit Bees and Growers
-
It’s the kind of situation that can spiral downhill quickly. Beekeepers providing hives for pollination feel their bees are suffering excessive losses and fear improper insecticide use is to blame. Growers insist they are following label requirements and using necessary insecticides correctly to protect the bees. Both sides believe they are doing everything right, yet the outcomes are all wrong.
- Testing "Electric Mulch" for Weed Control
-
"Electric mulch" uses small solar panels to charge stainless steel screens with a low-power electric current to prevent weed growth in vineyards, orchards or other high-value crops like blueberries. In early tests in New Mexico, it's working.
- A Humble Hedgerow Serves Pollinators and Beneficial Insects
-
In an expansive field of organically grown blueberries at Humbug Farms in Independence, Oregon, the most interesting rows aren’t blueberries at all. Instead, they are carefully chosen rows of (mostly) native flowering shrubs that provide food for wild bees and habitat for beneficial insects. Hurray for the humble hedgerow.
- Group Educates Health Care Providers about Pesticide-Related Illnesses
-
Pesticide Educational Resources Collaborative-Medical produces educational materials and resources on pesticides, specifically targeting health care providers so they can recognize, treat and report pesticide-related illnesses.
- IPM Experience is Helping Schools Plan for Reopening Amid COVID Concerns
-
As students return to classrooms in the fall of 2020, coronavirus is very much on people’s minds. In the West, having an IPM program in place seems to be helping schools plan for reopening.
- Looking for Answers as Kochia Rolls Across the West
-
Kochia is a tumbling weed plaguing growers and ranchers from Central Canada to West Texas.
“It’s salt tolerant, heat tolerant, cold tolerant,” said Kent Davis, a crop consultant with Crop Quest in Colorado. “I want to kill the damn stuff, there’s no question about it, but you have to admire it at the same time.”
- Educating an Urban Public and Land Managers about Invasive Weeds
-
Having a clear, consistent message and speaking with one voice is helpful when it comes to educating the public about invasive species. Here's how the area around Portland, Oregon did it.
- IPM Training Program Targets Young Ag Professionals in the Pacific Northwest
-
Identification of pests and beneficials is one of the first principles of integrated pest management, and the core of a train-the-trainers program that’s been successfully improving the skills of young ag professionals in rural Oregon, Washington and Idaho since 2009.
- Dropping the Emerald Ash Borer Quarantine Could Impact the West
-
The U.S. Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service has proposed lifting the domestic quarantine designed to slow the spread of emerald ash borer, an action that could speed the destructive insect’s introduction into Western states that have so far kept it at bay.
- Using IPM Techniques to Battle Bed Bugs in Public Housing
-
Public housing presents unique pest-management challenges, including rapid turnover of residents, language and cultural barriers and even second-hand clothing and furniture. And those pest problems – especially when bedbugs are involved – can lead residents to resort to some pretty drastic and harmful pest control strategies.