In early April I was asked by Carol Hinton, ANR agent in Breckinridge County, to come and visit with several new and expanding greenhouse/high tunnel operations in her county. She shared that she had reservations about their preparedness for insect issues and wanted me to meet with each grower and help them to identify potential entry points for pests and advice on how to intercept them early. 

During this tour, I was able to give advice to four different farms on how to implement easy to accomplish integrated pest management strategies. Each farm needed to implement monitoring programs with yellow and blue sticky cards and early weed management in and near a greenhouse/high tunnel to mitigate pest entry. 

One grower who had a portion of their operation set up for floating tobacco trays was already dealing with intense aphid pressure. They complained that this was an annual issue, and their buyers were pressuring them to reduce insecticide inputs due to residue being left on the product. I was able to show that small patches of weeds and turf in the tunnel were harboring aphid populations. These unwanted plants grew in a center path which, due to the overhead spray rig set up, was never treated with insecticide. Every time they treated the tobacco, they were missing large aphid “colonies” which could easily recolonize once the insecticide residues were at low enough levels. The grower began to implement an organic weed management (physical removal) and stated we had helped to save about $50,000 worth of crop.