You are here.
Penn State to Provide Retailers with Safe Gardening Information - May 2001
May 9, 2001
UNIVERSITY PARK, PA -- Soon consumers will be able to find out how they can use fewer pesticides in their gardens and around their homes while shopping at their local garden centers and chain stores.
Free information on Integrated Pest Management, or IPM, and nutrient management will be available from Penn State and other land grant universities beginning this fall, says Steve Bogash, Penn State Cooperative Extension Agent in Franklin County. IPM aims to control pests -- such as insects, diseases, weeds and animals -- by combining physical, biological and chemical tactics that are safe, profitable and environmentally compatible. In the case of home plantings, proper plant variety selection and good site preparation can help avoid many future pest problems. The consumer needs this information at the time they are purchasing plants and planting them.
Bogash, who is also the principle investigator of the project, says they received a grant from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture (PDA) to assess the needs of garden centers in York and Franklin Counties and provide garden centers with information to advise consumers about proper IPM practices. "After the evaluations are made this summer, we'll begin supplying information for the fall mum season, and then fact sheets on Christmas trees and houseplants for the winter," Bogash explains. There are also plans to include information on classes that will be available through Penn State Extension. Tom Becker of York County Cooperative Extension and the Pennsylvania IPM Program are also grant collaborators.
"In the past, we've relied on people coming to us to get information, but we feel that most people only have time to shop at retail outlets and tend to their garden. If they do need advice, they typically ask someone that is trying to sell them something. We feel that we're missing a lot of people, and that this project will raise the profile of Penn State among consumers through contact at the retail level," says Bogash.
Also as part of the project, project personnel will be working with the Southeast IPM group (http://sepaipm.cas.psu.edu) in developing fact sheets on gardening topics such as choosing plants that are most resistant to diseases and plants that require less pesticides.
According to Bogash, the grant will fund the project for at least 15 months with the possibility of refunding. "Our long term goal is to turn this into a regional project and work with counties in Maryland as well. That way, the program will be eligible for additional federal funding through multi-state cooperation and will continue to grow," Bogash says.
For more information, you can contact Steve Bogash at (717) 263-9226 or email at smb13@psu.edu. You can also contact Tom Becker at (717) 840-7408 or tbecker@psu.edu.
The Pennsylvania IPM Program is a collaboration between Penn State and the PDA aimed at promoting IPM in both agricultural and nonagricultural situations. For more information, contact the program at (814) 865-2839, or visit web site http://paipm.cas.psu.edu.