IPM Practices Survey Grower responses to the questionnaire detailing their IPM practices indicate a good level of integration of several pest management strategies. Most commonly used tactics included education of key farm personnel about changing pest situations, regular scouting, maintenance, and use of written scouting records, using best management practices to insure crop vigor, and the destruction of the crop and its residue according to pest threat. Major disease concerns included late blight in tomatoes and potatoes and bacterial spot in tomatoes and peppers. The use of disease resistant varieties was commonly cited by pepper growers, and to a lesser extent by tomato growers. The use of sound growing techniques, especially water table and fertilizer management for the control of root and stem diseases, was common among growers of all three crops.
Insect management remains focused on scouting and responding to thresholds in all crops.
Growers generally expressed a willingness to employ biologically friendly pesticides when possible. Encouragingly, many were willing to allow some pest numbers to exceed thresholds if beneficial insects were active in their fields. Growers also employed a rotation of pesticides to reduce the risk of pesticide resistance. Market and financial impacts on the Florida vegetable grower were evident in some of the practices which were not used, primarily those involving crop rotation, manipulation of planting schedules and sanitation of farm equipment between fields. Novel or innovative pest management tools, such as soil solarization, use of mycorrhizal organisms and maintenance of refugia for beneficial insects were seldom used, primarily due to a lack of a proven record of efficacy.