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Technical Services and Consulting
Properly used, an Integrated Pest Management Plan (IPM) is a means of considering all available treatment options within the context of the pest, the ecosystem, the costs and the impacts of treatment options. The basics of IPM are outlined in the following link http://www.agf.gov.bc.ca/cropprot/ipm.htm
Let Synergy Technical Services show you how to save money and time through the use of modern semiochemical tools. We can help you with the 3 critical stages that IPM is based on: prevention, observation and intervention.
Prevention: Identifies acceptable pest levels on a site by site basis and encourages general forest health to keep pests in check. Our staff is knowledgeable about forest pest biology and ecology; let our expertise work for you. Susceptibility (hazard) and risk rating have become routine tools for managing forest pests. We can help you access both the susceptibility of your location as well as the risk of pest infestation.
Observation: Survey and Detection. Semiochemical traps provide an expert early warning system for active resource managers. High species specificity and low non target effects of semiochemical traps make these traps especially useful for IPM applications. You don’t have to be an taxonomic expert to identify closely related pest species, appropriately baited semiochemical traps can simplify pest identifications. This makes these traps the perfect tool to look for potentially invasive species. Traps can provide information about when insects take flight and where pests are present. Routine uses of monitoring traps also provide important information about pest populations and historical records will show if pest numbers are increasing, decreasing or staying static. In the southern USA routine population sampling each spring with traps baited for southern pine beetles provide a model that has an +80% success rate in predicting SPB outbreaks. Accurate observations do help manage the risks of pest infestation.
Intervention: Complete control within the context of a forest environment is not possible but we can help you when intervention is needed. When pest infestations occur, semiochemical tools have additional uses beyond survey and detection. Even if you are considering conventional pesticide or silvicultural treatments as part of the intervention, semiochemical tools can help you.
Verbenone and MCH are well known tree protection agents. While simple to use, neither of these semiochemicals are fool proof and there is considerable art to using these to their peak capabilities. Let us show how to get the maximum benefit from your investment in verbenone or MCH treatments.
Semiochemical tree baits are an economical means to help minimize the spread of damaging pests when there are trees that can be sacrificed for the overall health of the stand. Tree baits can be used on a grid basis when it is desirable to restrict the movement of pests. Tree bait or semiochemical traps can be used to”mop up” residual pests left by direct control measures. Semiochemical traps can also be used to help measure the efficacy of direct control measures.
The use of semiochemical traps in push/ pulls strategies where pests are “pushed” away from sus ceptible trees using antiaggregation semiochemicals and pulled into lethal traps is still very much in its infancy. There are several suggestions that such strategies are capable of saving trees; even under extreme pest pressure. Every site is different and many sites may not be suitable for a push /pull pest intervention. Let us have a look at your site to see what natural attributes could help mitigate the risks of pest infestation.
We have been involved directly in many different situations using a variety semiochemicals. Our network of clients and research collaborators throughout North America provide information about forest pests well beyond our location in British Columbia. We know what works and what has failed in the past; why not let our experience and knowledge work for you? We can help you with a pest management plan that is tailored to your site, capabilities and budget.
Our Technical Services can be used by any manager who is interested in state of the art methods for proactively managing the risk of forest pest infestation. We work with public sector resource managers and private land owners. Ranches, farms, campgrounds, recreational properties, parks and golf courses are examples of forested land areas that may benefit from our expertise and services.
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