Follow Stepwise Process.

Good examples of this in practice are the use of sealed seed dressings and ‘spot’ field treatment, (as opposed to whole field application), to control insect pests that would interfere with crop establishment. Another example of IPM, is the use of reduced rate herbicides, resulting in perhaps incomplete weed control, which may prove sufficient, for instance, in rapidly expanding dense crop canopies. Technology is expected to provide ‘new’ tools in this process, eg the use of pheromones to attract insects to pollinate flowers to attract other beneficial insects, thus delaying the development of typical pest colonisation. The development of ‘trap cropping’ and the use of predatory insects and substances, to control pests, is also expected to deliver useful non-chemical control of pests in commercial production.

Under high pest pressure and in controlled circumstances, the use of drenched modules prior to planting out is preferable to whole field dressing. However, operator safety and mechanisms to ensure that environmental impact with respect to treated plants, must be considered very carefully and controls established.