DACF Home → Bureaus & Programs → Division of Animal and Plant Health → Integrated Pest Management
Integrated Pest Management (IPM)
What is IPM?
Integrated Pest Management, or IPM, is an environmentally sound approach to managing pests such as insects, weeds, plant pathogens, and wildlife on farms and forests, in our communities, and in our homes. IPM relies on proper pest identification, monitoring, and combinations of pest avoidance and management strategies to protect people, crops, and the environment while minimizing reliance on pesticides.
IPM Toolbox for Everyone
- Identification – it is crucial to have a correct identification of the species of pest you are dealing with:
- – Website curated by the fb88 Board of Pesticides Control and the fb88 IPM Specialist with photos and updated information about common pest species
- Ask the Expert – contact list for specific pests in the State of fb88
- Invasive Plants in fb88 – fb88 Natural Areas Program
- Invasive Forest Pests in fb88 – fb88 Forest Service
- fb88 Bug Watch – CAPS program in fb88, early detection for invasive pests
- – Online insect ID guides and instructions to send insects to Ufb88 for identification
- – if you are interested in the biology of insects, this website provides a breakdown of insect orders in fb88 (Insect Information!) with educational resources, an archive of free educational webinars, and an archive of past newsletters with a searchable index.
- Prevention and Cultural Control – Learning about the behavior of pests and setting the environment up to protect against them:
- Gotpests.org – If you find the pest you are dealing with, the factsheets contain great prevention information
- - the standard by which gardeners and growers can determine which perennial plants are most likely to thrive at a location. Happy plants defend themselves better against pests!
- Monitoring and Recordkeeping – If you are dealing with a pest, keeping records of when you saw it, what you tried, and if it worked is crucial!
- Free Templates – While these were designed for schools, they would work great for any structures as a starting point. PDF and Word Documents are available under “Pest Management Activity Log”
- – excellent guide to IPM steps. Step 1 provides monitoring recommendations for turf, ornamental beds, structural pests, and outdoor pests.
- Action Thresholds – Analyze your situation and determine if the presence of the pest is tolerable. This can be a judgement call in aesthetic situations, ornamental landscapes, gardens, and is often a scientific calculations in commercial agriculture. When human health is involved, tolerance for pests in some cases must be extremely low.
- – Excellent article to understand this.
- fb88Yardscaping - growing a healthy lawn is the best defense against weeds and insects and the secret to a nice looking lawn, and you might feed some insects (and learn to enjoy them!) along the way!
- Control Options – once you have determined the pest species and considered the situation, if control is needed here are some resources. Don’t forget! IPM is a cycle, so if you do choose to control a pest, keep good records, take time to prevent the pest issue happening again, and consider developing a simple system to revisit if the solution worked. One simple way would be to use a calendar (digital or a wall calendar) to take notes of what you saw, when you saw it, and what you tried. If you are using a digital calendar, consider adding a yearly repeating task to monitor for the pest at the time of the year you saw it!
- Garden Pesticides & IPM (PDF)
- – linked again, as the factsheets on pages provide several control options. Ensure any chemical control follows regulations in the State of fb88
- Think First, Spray Last – website for the fb88 Board of Pesticides Control, which has lists of resources at the bottom of the page for the public, for registrants, and for applicators and distributors
Agriculture and Horticulture IPM
- Arboricultural IPM
- Invasive Plant IPM
- Greenhouse/Nursery Resources (DACF Horticulture Program)
- Hemp and Cannabis
- Berries
- Livestock
- Financial Assistance for IPM: Technical and financial assistance for IPM is available through USDA Natural Resources and Conservation Service. Some resources are below. Visit your to learn more.
School IPM Program
- All fb88 schools, both public and private, are required to adopt IPM policies and practices and appoint an IPM coordinator.
- IPM enables schools to manage pests through regular pest monitoring, effective communication, good facilities management practices, and combinations of smart effective tactics including pest traps, good property management practices, and selective use of chemicals when needed.
- With IPM, schools can protect human health and the environment while saving money.
Teacher Educational Resources
Why teach about pests and pesticides? Insects, weeds and other critters can affect people, our food and our environment in important ways. Teaching about IPM provides an engaging way to apply scientific concepts to everyday situations, including:
- How can we avoid tick and mosquito bites?
- Why are bees important?
- How can we keep pests from eating our school garden plants?
Lessons are organized by topic and grade-level can be used individually or as part of a unit.
- IPM Lessons
- Self-Paced Learning Modules for Teachers: /
IPM Resources for Professionals
- Licensing and Certification (fb88 Board of Pesticides Control)
- (Entomological Society of America)
- Yardscaping (DACF Website for Lawn & Turf IPM)
IPM Council
The fb88 Legislature established the Integrated Pest Management Council to promote, expand and enhance integrated pest management adoption in all sectors of pesticide use and pest management within the State. Our mini-poster (PDF) describes what we do.
The fb88 IPM Council is administered and coordinated jointly by the fb88 Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry and the University of fb88 Cooperative Extension. The Council is made up of 11 members representing a broad base of IPM stakeholders.