While every farming system is unique, the principles of ecological pest management apply universally. Manage Insects on Your Farm highlights ecological strategies that improve your farm’s natural defenses and encourage beneficial insects to attack your worst pests.
Learn about the principles of ecologically based pest management and the strategies of farmers around the world to address insect problems. Minimize insect damage with wise soil management and identify beneficial insects to put these “good bugs” to work for you.
Examples of successful pest management strategies sprinkled throughout the book will stimulate your imagination to develop a more complex, more diverse ecosystem on your farm.
Table of Contents
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- How Ecologically Based Pest Management Works
- Principles of Ecologically Based Pest Management
- Managing Aboveground Habitat
- Strategies to Enhance Beneficials
- Innovative Tart Cherry Orchard Systems
- Farm Feature: No-Till Cover Crops Yield Soil and Pest Benefits
- Farm Feature: A Toast to Ecological Grape Production
- Sidebar: Reduce Mowing Frequency to Attract Beneficials
- Beetle Banks Boost Beneficials
- Surrounding Crops With Perimeter Fools Pests
- Table 1: Flowering Plants That Attract Natural Enemies
- Farm Feature: Resistant Fruit Varieties Reduce Risk
- Identification Key to Major Beneficials and Pests
- Managing Soils to Minimize Crop Pests
- Healthy Soils Produce Healthy Crops
- Qualities of a Healthy Soil
- Managing Pests With Healthy Soils
- Farm Feature: Triple Threat to Pests: Cover Crops, No-Till, Rotation
- Impacts of Fertilizers on Insect Pests
- Table 2. Pest Populations Increase With Excess Nitrogen Fertility
- Implications for Fertilizer Practices
- Beneficial Agents on the Farm
- Predators
- Table 3: Common Predators
- Principal Insect Predators
- Cover Crops Lure Beneficial Insects, Improve Bottom Line in Cotton
- Parasitoids
- Table 4: Common Parasitoids
- Principal Parasitoids
- Table 5: Major Groups of Dipteran (Fly) Parasitoids
- Cropping Systems Shape Parasitoid Diversity
- Principal Insect Pathogens
- Bacillus Thuringiensis (Bt)
- Putting it All Together
- Designing a Habitat Management Strategy
- Fine-Tuning Farm Management to Enhance Specific Beneficials
- Enhancing Biota and Improving Soil Health
- Strategies for Enhancing Plant Diversity
- Rolling Out Your Strategy
- Key Elements of Ecological Pest Management
- Farm Feature: Rotation, Rotation, Rotation: Alfalfa, Cover Crops Break Pest Cycles
- Universal Principles, Farm-Specific Strategies
- Guidelines for Designing Healthy and Pest-Resilient Farming Systems
- Recent Advances in Ecological Pest Management
- Resources: General Information