“It was not costing us any more or any less and when we do use chemicals it’s giving us a better bang for our buck because we have the beneficials helping us.”
Hurst said using IPM had made him more aware of his pest management practices.
He now thinks more about the chemicals he uses before
applying them.
“We want to optimise returns but not at the detriment of the environment.”
Using IPM Hurst found crops can tolerate pest burdens such as aphids better than he had previously thought, especially around flowering in late November and December.
He said as long as the beneficial insects were around it was a matter of giving them time to control the aphids.
He admitted this could be difficult but it was a matter of having faith in the ability of the beneficial insects to do their job.
While there had been isolated incidences of barley yellow dwarf virus in his crops this year Hurst viewed this as a positive.
It showed the beneficial insects were controlling the aphids sufficiently well to ensure the cases were just that – isolated.
“It shows the system is working.”
Hurst viewed the recent release of new “soft” chemicals on to the market as being very promising
for IPM.
‘It [integrated pest management] was not costing us any more or any less and when we do use chemicals it’s giving us a better bang for our buck because we have the beneficials helping us.’
These were easier on beneficial insects – and unlike many new chemicals – they were not expensive.
At the moment Hurst does most of his own the insect monitoring, which was an extension of his crop agronomy. He also got advice from others when needed.
Hurst said IPM had certainly made him a lot more observant. He was now always on watch for anything out of the ordinary in his crops.
Fall-back position
While South Canterbury farmer Colin Hurst has learnt to tolerate pest burdens he said he would treat crops with conventional insecticides if insect pests got beyond a certain level.
“Sometimes you just have to bite the bullet.”
Slugs have certainly been a challenge, particularly in the past two seasons where damp conditions have favoured the pest but Hurst had been able to control numbers with IPM-friendly slug baits.
