Integrated Pest Management
The widespread use of pesticides for insect, disease, and weed control can pose a risk to our natural ecosystems. At Sheridan Nurseries, we continually work to minimize our reliance on harmful chemicals, instead using Integrated Pest Management practices to focus on prevention and natural solutions.
Integrated Pest Management (IPM) is an environmentally friendly pest control process. It reduces traditional chemical methods by implementing ecologically sound practices to prevent and manage harmful pests and diseases to our crops while minimizing the impact on our natural ecosystems.
Sheridan is committed to establishing and finding best practices to protect our environment and local wildlife. Watch here to learn more
IPM Initiatives at Sheridan Nurseries
Biological Control Agents: Biological control agents are living organisms that are natural enemies of damaging pests and diseases. These natural enemies include predators, parasitoids, and pathogens. There are many benefits to biological control agents, and perhaps the most important is resistance. Pests can develop resistance to chemicals, but they don’t develop resistance to being eaten!
Some beneficial organisms are “host-specific”, which means they only affect a small number of target species and are harmless to the rest. In contrast, others are generalist feeders and will prey on various pests.
Biopesticides: Biopesticides or Biological Pesticides are pest management agents and chemicals derived from natural sources. They generally affect only the target pest and closely related organisms, so they don’t cause harm to birds, beneficial insects and mammals. Biopesticides are effective in minimal quantities and often decompose quickly, avoiding the exposure and pollution caused by conventional pesticides.
Working with wildlife: Small mammals, frogs, toads, snakes, turtles and many native insects are natural predators of certain invasive pests, for example, the Japanese beetle. To enhance the habitat of these beneficial species, Sheridan works to create favourable living and environmental conditions to increase their population so they can act as natural pest management systems. Following are the ways that we work with wildlife to reduce our dependence on chemicals:
- Hibernaculum – allows beneficial predators to establish their homes in safe spaces such as a small pit filled with old concrete blocks, sticks, and leaves that create natural open pockets and protective slots for toads to burrow and hibernate throughout the winter.
- Bat Boxes – are installed in strategic spots around the property to help control populations of mosquitoes, moths, and midges.
- Bee Hotels – have been introduced for mason and leafcutter bees to encourage them to pollinate our flowering trees and shrubs. In addition, Bee hotels can be used by solitary wasps, natural predators of some pest species.
- Nematodes – are released in crops to protect them from root-feeding grubs and to reduce damage from leaf-feeding beetles with soil-dwelling life stages, such as flea beetles and vine weevils.
- Ladybirds – we avoid spraying broad-spectrum pesticides on or near crops where we see ladybirds and other predatory beetles feeding. Instead, we use target-specific biopesticides that do not harm non-target species.
Blue-green algae control with water hyacinth: These plants have been introduced to our water reservoirs. They float on the ponds to help inhibit algae blooms, thus improving water quality and benefiting fish and other aquatic species.
Pheromone trapping: Using mating and aggregation pheromones, we can monitor the population cycles of invasive pests like the spongy moth and Japanese beetle. This allows us to time our treatments to the vulnerable life stages of the pests in the locations they appear rather than spraying the whole farm all growing season. Pheromone trapping can also disrupt mating, which means fewer pests on crops the next year!
Scouting for key pests throughout the year: We continuously monitor our crops throughout the summer with a bi-weekly scouting regime and a weekly pheromone trap monitoring program. As part of our scouting process, when practical, we manually remove pupae and egg masses to reduce insect populations.
IPM on our farms
What do IPM crop technicians do?
- IPM crop technicians work with growers to maintain and promote the healthy growth of plants.
- Prescribe treatments for pests and diseases and monitor for damaging pests and invasive species throughout the year.
- Develop and carry out scouting.
- Monitor treatments to prevent harm to the insects and wildlife we share our farm with.
Principles of IPM at Sheridan
Sheridan Nurseries is committed to establishing and finding best practices to protect our environment and local wildlife. Our five main principles for integrated pest management are:
- Always striving for excellent plant health – most pests go for stressed plants, and healthy plants can fight off problems more effectively. All plants are planted in top-quality planting mediums and follow optimized fertilizing practices.
- Exclusion barriers – such as netting, are used to protect the boxwood plants to prevent boxtree moth.
- Preventative treatments – spray treatments include copper spray for fall leaf spots
- Always striving for excellent plant health – most pests go for stressed plants, and healthy plants can fight off problems more effectively. All plants are planted in top-quality planting mediums and follow optimized fertilizing practices.
- Exclusion barriers – such as netting, are used to protect the boxwood plants to prevent boxtree moth.
- Preventative treatments – spray treatments include copper spray for fall leaf spots
The Sheridan Nurseries IPM Team continuously researches and learns about potential invasive pests and uses guides to identify new species. We work to educate our growers and seasonal workers on important pests and signs of their presence.
We participate in ongoing training and education and work closely with the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) to track and monitor potential invasive pests and species. Our technicians are active within the nursery Industry and collaborate to share learnings and best practices for IPM.
The Sheridan Nurseries IPM Team continuously researches and learns about potential invasive pests and uses guides to identify new species. We work to educate our growers and seasonal workers on important pests and signs of their presence.
We participate in ongoing training and education and work closely with the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) to track and monitor potential invasive pests and species. Our technicians are active within the nursery Industry and collaborate to share learnings and best practices for IPM.
- Regular crop scouting – staying on top of any potential pest issue requires walking the fields to monitor the plants directly.
- Pheromone and netting traps – are set out to find flying adult stages and track changes in pest populations.
- Growing Degree Day calendars – are created to help us anticipate pest and disease activity periods before damage or symptoms appear.
- Accurate record-keeping – is critical for maintaining and tracking pest sightings, population levels, and prior treatments. It allows us to evaluate our scouting and control programs and continuously improve them.
- Regular crop scouting – staying on top of any potential pest issue requires walking the fields to monitor the plants directly.
- Pheromone and netting traps – are set out to find flying adult stages and track changes in pest populations.
- Growing Degree Day calendars – are created to help us anticipate pest and disease activity periods before damage or symptoms appear.
- Accurate record-keeping – is critical for maintaining and tracking pest sightings, population levels, and prior treatments. It allows us to evaluate our scouting and control programs and continuously improve them.
Knowing the life cycle and growing habits of pests and diseases is vital for setting action thresholds. Action thresholds describe the steps taken for a specific pest or disease at different life stages. They are the tolerance level to a pest or disease before intervening.
Some pests have lower or higher thresholds depending on the time of year.
Example: A powdery mildew observed in the summer has a lower threshold – meaning it would be treated when discovered. If the same powdery mildew was found in the late fall, it would fall off the plant naturally and would not be concerning for its health.
Invasive pests and diseases always have low thresholds: when we see them, we intervene.
Knowing the life cycle and growing habits of pests and diseases is vital for setting action thresholds. Action thresholds describe the steps taken for a specific pest or disease at different life stages. They are the tolerance level to a pest or disease before intervening.
Some pests have lower or higher thresholds depending on the time of year.
Example: A powdery mildew observed in the summer has a lower threshold – meaning it would be treated when discovered. If the same powdery mildew was found in the late fall, it would fall off the plant naturally and would not be concerning for its health.
Invasive pests and diseases always have low thresholds: when we see them, we intervene.
Invasive pests and diseases always have low thresholds: when we see them, we intervene using the IPM initiatives that we have in place. Only as a last resort, when IPM intervention methods do not protect crop yield, will we resort to conventional pesticides.
Invasive pests and diseases always have low thresholds: when we see them, we intervene using the IPM initiatives that we have in place. Only as a last resort, when IPM intervention methods do not protect crop yield, will we resort to conventional pesticides.
Sheridan Nurseries is committed to integrated pest management by creating innovative solutions and continually monitoring and responding to pest problems with the most effective and least harmful methods for control.
We work hard to maintain our high levels of growing standards within the industry and are proud to be recognized as one of Canada’s greenest employers for 2023. We continue to support and create initiatives to protect our environment and area wildlife.