Every so often we think it is important to remind growers about IPM, or Integrated Pest Management, and
what it can do for growers.
So often these days we hear about the call for applying pesticides as preventive sprays, for insurance or
peace of mind, or for plant health purposes, rather than for need.
There are numerous reasons why this is not the best approach to take or use of your money, according to
Dr. Ron Hammond, OSU Extension Entomologist.
First, unless you actually have the insect pest present, the insecticide application will NOT make you
money.
Remember, insecticides do NOT increase your yield; insecticide applications will only save the yield that
an insect pest would otherwise caused to have been lost.
Thus, an unnecessary insecticide application, based on the lack of an insect pest at economic population
levels, will not save you any money because there was nothing present to cause an economic yield loss.

It is a waste of money.
Second, and perhaps more of a long term problem, is that unnecessary applications only increase the
likelihood of resistance developing to insecticides.
Some of you might have heard of the term "insecticide treadmill"; this was given to situations
where insecticide resistance developed on crops requiring an even greater amount and number of
insecticide applications over the years.
A good example is from cotton, where until recently the crop needed 12-15 insecticide applications every
year to produce an acceptable yield.
A major cause of this was that an IPM approach was not available nor used in the 1950s and 1960s.
Insecticide resistance has been and continues to be a major concern across the country and throughout the
world because it has occurred, is occurring, and will continue to be a potential occurrence.
It should be mentioned that this is a concern with Bt-transgenic traits in corn, but remember, you are
already attempting to prevent resistance from occurring by providing refuges whose purpose are to help
prevent resistance from developing.
For insecticides, the main way to prevent resistance to insecticides is to NOT use them unless absolutely
necessary.
IPM has been and needs to continue to be an extremely important constituent of crop production.
We have made too much progress in managing pests in an economic, effective, environmentally safe, and
socially responsible manner to lose effective insecticides by not maintaining an IPM approach to pest
management.