IPM
Pioneer Nuggets Integrated Pest Management
IPM
is an acronym that gets thrown around a lot these days, often with little understanding of what a well-rounded integrated pest management program is. Any thoughtful IPM program starts with a clean, proactive approach in the forms of cultural and mechanical pest & pathogen management. Keeping sealed growing environments, scrubbing not only the greenhouses that our plants spend their lives but the facility that surrounds them. Making sure our team washes their hands and arms, changes their clothes and use of foot baths with work specific shoes if necessary. These are the first steps in a full IPM program, after which comes your plans for biological and product control. Below is a list of every product we’ve ever used at Pioneer. While most don’t touch a majority of our crops, we at Pioneer Nuggets believe in transparency and education, letting our customers know what we use, what makes them tick and why we trust the product is an important value to all of the Pioneer family.
Oxidate 2.0
The first in a long line of OMRI listed products! This product contains a couple of diluted oxidizers, such as the hydrogen peroxide you can buy at the store for your boo-boos. This product is applied as a foliar spray and can be applied all the way through flower.
Actinovate
Actinovate is another biological control we like to use. It is used primarily as a foliar spray in the vegetative phase. The active ingredient is a strain of ‘beneficial bacteria’ called Streptomyces Lydicus which rapidly colonizes the leaf surface when applied as a spray. It works by crowding out any potential pathogens or spores that would otherwise find a home on the leaf surface. This product coupled with good control of your environment and VPD helps ensure that our crops come out of the vegetative phase with clean foliage. This product is used only in the vegetative phase, thus is never applied directly to flowers.
Cease
Another OMRI Listed product. The main active ingredient is a strain of Bacillus subtilis a bacterium with a wide range of uses, including controlling a broad spectrum of fungal or bacterial issues should they arise. Used primarily as a foliar spray and can be applied until week 6 of flower.
Kaligreen
Another OMRI listed product. The main active ingredient is potassium bicarbonate. It’s a way to control any fungal issues that may occur in the vegetative or early flower stages. It works by disrupting a key biological function in the cell walls of fungus to break it down.
Pyganic 5.0
Pyganic 5.0 is a product that is best used as a general knockdown for a wide array of pests. The active ingredient, Pyrethrins, is found in the seed casings of a variety of the Chrysanthemum flower. It works as a sodium channel modulator in many species of insect. This means that it essentially shuts down the insect’s nervous system. This is a very effective product that is good to have on hand just in case the beneficial insects you have in place don’t do the trick. Certified for Organic Production.
Azaguard
Another OMRI certified product with the main active ingredient Azadirachtin. This is the same primary component used in many organic gardening approaches to pest management. This product is also used only in Nurse/Veg as a drench and isn’t applied as a foliar spray onto flowers.
Botanigard Maxx
Botanigard is a product we utilize as a soil drench. It’s a mixture of an entomopathogenic fungus (Beauveria bassiana) and a naturally occurring insecticidal compound from Chrysanthemum flowers. The fungus is one that specifically attacks certain insects by taking root inside them, feeding off the pest’s own nutrients and body before leaving them a mummified husk. This product we only use as a soil drench in the vegetative state and the first week of flower.
Root Shield Plus WP
Root Shield Plus WP is a product that contains two different strains of the Trichoderma genus of fungi; which has proven to be effective at preventing a host of common soilborne illnesses. Pythium, Fusarium, Phytophthora and Rhizoctonia are all soilborne diseases, many of them are commonly referred to as root rot. Root rot is caused by a few factors including but not limited to oversaturation or poor drainage in the media, unhealthy plants and cross contamination. Rootshield Plus WP works by inhabiting the rootzone competing with the “root rot” fungus for root surface area. Once these beneficial microbes have fully inhabited the rootzone they begin to emit an enzyme that dissolves the cell walls of the ‘root rot’ fungi. Early application of Rootshield Plus WP coupled with good watering practices ensures a happy plant and a clean root zone. Certified for Organic Production.
Bioceres WP
BioCeres WP is a contact biological insecticide that contains the entomopathogenic fungus Beauveria bassiana. This particular strain, ANT-03, was isolated from Lygus bugs in Canada. It works by germinating into the cuticle of insects and releasing toxins while also consuming the hemolymph (a fluid equivalent to blood in most insects.) In other words- the fungus penetrates the pest’s exoskeleton as well as its orifices and eats the insect from the inside out. One of the advantages of BioCeres is that it is an
i-502 allowable product containing B. bassiana without the pyrethrins. Certified for Organic Production.
Clonex Rooting Gel
While technically listed as a pesticide, the function for this product is different. The product comes as a gel that we dip our cuttings (otherwise known as clones) into. It mimics a naturally occurring plant hormone that helps in creating callus tissue at the bottom of the cutting, which helps enable new roots to form on our new plant babies. Link to EPA pdf on the active ingredient ->
We employ beneficial insects
as a broad-spectrum preventative measure against a wide variety of pests. Agricultural pests are a matter of fact and beneficial insects are a sustainable and natural solution that we fully endorse. They are effective in regulating outbreaks and prove just as effective at controlling pest populations as bottled pesticides but without all the harsh chemicals.
Beneficial Nematodes
Entomopathogenic nematodes are extraordinarily lethal to many invasive insect pests yet safe for plants and animals. This high degree of safety means that nematode application does not require any safety equipment or have reentry restrictions. Nematodes are fast working and can kill insects within 24–48 hours. Dozens of different insect pests are susceptible to infection.
Dalotia Coraria (Roving Beetle)
Dalotia is a native species of soil-dwelling rove beetle, which feeds on small insects and mites. Both adults and larvae are active, aggressive predators.
Stratiolaelaps Scimitus ‘Wormersley’
Stratiolaelaps is a native species of soil dwelling mite, which feeds on small insects and mites (e.g., springtails, root mealybug crawlers, spider mites). Adults are tan in color, less than 1/20 inch (1 mm) long. They move rapidly over the soil surface.
Green Lacewing Larvae (Chrysoperla Rufilabris)
Green lacewings are an extremely versatile and voracious biological control with a wide range of applications. They are most effective against thrips, aphids, mites and other leaf or surface-dwelling insects; often consuming up to 200 or more pests or pest eggs a week during their two to three week developmental period. Once the larvae have consumed enough prey, they form a cocoon and transform into an adult; which is winged and a bright green color. The main benefit of adult lacewings is that they will produce eggs and in turn, more larvae; as they mainly do not consume pest insects at this stage of their life cycle. Overall the Green Lacewing’s size, versatility, and effectiveness make it a popular choice in biological control in greenhouse production and cannabis industries as an effective tool in any comprehensive IPM program.
Amblyseius (Neoseiulus) Cucumeris
A. Cucumeris is a species of predatory mite that feeds on immature stages of thrips. It also feeds on pollen, two-spotted mites and other species of mites. Cucumeris adults are pear-shaped, tan colored mites, less than 1/50-inch (0.5 mm) long. Eggs are round, transparent and 0.01-inch (0.14 mm) in diameter.