Pest management
A season-long pest management program for pecan orchards. We supply the IPM Blend and use field scouting to guide each application.
Three windows in the season
The seasonal plan has five applications across three windows. Scouting in each block guides the timing and rate.
IPM Blend mistPests
Winter, before bud break · 2 applications
On the bark. Eggs and young scale spend the winter in the bark of the trunk and limbs. The two dormant applications go there, to kill them before the leaves come out.
Targets Overwintering eggs, soft scale and early armored scale
Spring, as the first leaves open · 1 application
On the new leaves. Tender leaves and dry, warming weather let spider mites build up fast. Scouting guides the timing and rate of this application.
Targets Spider mites and other early pests
Summer, while the nuts grow · 2 applications
Through the canopy. Aphids feed under the leaves, and ants tend them for their honeydew. Two maintenance applications keep them, soft scale, mites and the occasional caterpillar below the level where they cost yield.
Targets Yellow, black-margined and black pecan aphids; honeydew ants; soft scale; mites; occasional caterpillars
Season plan: 5 applications, with timing and rates guided by scouting.
Schematic, not to scale. The windows and targets follow our IPM program; scouting in each block sets the timing of every application.
How it goes on
We plan, the grower sprays, and scouting checks the result.
- Your crew spraysWe supply the IPM Blend and the timing. The grower’s crew applies it with their own calibrated equipment and keeps the spray records.
- About 100 gallons per acreThe standard volume for each application.
- Every leaf surfaceFull canopy coverage, including the underside of the leaves and the new growth, where mites and aphids feed. Finer droplets when pests hide under the leaves.
- Bark in winterDormant applications go on the trunk and limbs, to kill the eggs that spend the winter there.
- Checked afterwardsScouting 3 to 5 days after an application shows whether the pressure dropped, and sets the rate and timing of the next one.
- Natural and non-systemicIt works where it lands and is not carried inside the tree. The aim is to keep pests below the level where they cost yield, with less reliance on broad-spectrum chemistry and less risk of resistance. No program can promise to wipe them out.
From our field reports
Two cases from our IPM reports, without the farm’s name. Each started with scouting and ended with a follow-up visit.
Field report · Leaflets about 3 inches long
Spider mites, caught early
- What we saw
- Active spider mites under young leaves, several life stages and the first webbing, but no real damage yet. Dry, warming weather could let them multiply within 5 to 7 days.
- What we decided
- A light rate of IPM Blend that week, to protect the tender leaves, then a moderate rate on the next spray cycle.
- Follow-up
- Scouting again 3 to 5 days after each application, adjusting the rate to what it found.
Field report · After pollination
Leaf damage that was not nutrition
- What we saw
- Ragged holes and burned tips on young leaves, egg masses, some scale under the leaves and light mite stippling. The damage was clearly worse where the block had not been sprayed.
- What it was not
- The sap test showed nitrogen and potassium adequate to high, so it was not a deficiency, and the pattern did not fit cold injury.
- What we decided
- IPM Blend right away, against the caterpillars first and the scale crawlers and mites as well, with full coverage of the leaf undersides and new growth and finer droplets. A second pass 5 to 7 days later, depending on scouting. No extra nitrogen.
Under the hand lens
Scouting photos: spider mites and aphids on pecan leaves, and eggs in the bark. Most of what decides an application is too small to see from the ground.
Eggs tucked into the bark. This is where the dormant applications go.
Pests gather along the veins under the leaf, the surface a spray has to reach.
At this size, a hand lens is the only way to count them before they build up.
What the program covers
- Black-margined aphids
- Yellow pecan aphids
- Black pecan aphids
- Ants that tend aphids for honeydew
- Spider mites, light to moderate pressure
- Soft scale
- Early-stage armored scale
- Leaf-feeding caterpillars, when scouting finds them
Integrated pest management
$119.31 / acre
IPM Blend for a seasonal plan of 5 applications. Pests outside this list are quoted separately, with your approval.