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1-800-PENN-IPM User Numbers Increase - February 2000
February 1, 2000
UNIVERSITY PARK, PA -- Farmers who looked for the latest information on European corn borer infestations and how it would affect their pesticide spraying were in luck this past growing season.
Increasingly, those wishing to get the latest information about pests and pest management are calling 1-800-PENN-IPM. Last year, the toll-free hotline received over 700 calls for sweet corn crop information and another 700 for Christmas tree information. Total calls received for all crops was over 3,500.
Caller numbers are on the rise because Christmas tree growers, agricultural crop producers, turfgrass managers and others know they can get the most recent pheremone trap capture counts for their region, up-to-date disease development information and other pest information, as well as tips on pest management tactics from the Pennsylvania Integrated Pest Management Program. Information on such crops as Christmas trees, sweet corn, potatoes, tomatoes and ornamental plants in addition to information on scheduled pesticide applicator training sessions is included on the hotline.
These messages are updated frequently during the growing season -- sometimes as often as daily during critical management periods -- and are available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Pest management specialists from the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture, Penn State's entomology and plant pathology departments, and county offices of Penn State Cooperative Extension contribute their time and expertise to keep the information current and useful.
The system also includes a "fax-on-demand" function. When available, the caller simply requests a fax and indicates his or her fax number. The system then will send a fax containing in-depth information about the crop, graphs of insect activity over time and other data. The same toll-free number can be used to find periodic updates of the winter schedule of pesticide applicator training meetings.
Integrated Pest Management, or IPM, is an approach to managing pests such as insects, diseases, weeds and animals by integrating appropriate physical, biological and chemical tactics that are safe, profitable and environmentally compatible. The Pennsylvania IPM program is a collaboration between the Pennsylvania State University and the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture aimed at promoting integrated pest management in both agricultural and nonagricultural situations.