A companion app to the original MyIPM app for fruit and nut crops, the new MyIPM Row Crops app promotes integrated pest management tactics for the most common insect pests and diseases in corn, cotton, grain sorghum, peanuts and soybeans. (Aerial photo of a soybean field at the UGA Northwest Research and Education Center by Henry Jordan)
New insect wreaking havoc in your cotton field? Troublesome disease in your peanut stand you don’t recognize? No idea where to start? There’s an app for that.
This year, farmers have a new tool to help them diagnose and combat pests and diseases in row crops. A companion app to the original MyIPM app for fruit and nut crops, Clemson University IPM Coordinator Francis Reay-Jones led the development and release of the new MyIPM Row Crops app that promotes integrated pest management tactics for the most common insect pests and diseases in corn, cotton, grain sorghum, peanuts and soybeans.
The original MyIPM app was first developed by plant pathologist Guido Schnabel at Clemson University to address strawberry disease management, said Brett Blaauw, peach specialist with the University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences and collaborator on the app series.
But over time, as demand for this resource grew, additional specialists were invited to contribute to expanding these services to meet the needs of other crops and commodities.
The apps are designed to work in tandem with annual Cooperative Extension production guides and the Georgia Pest Management Handbook by providing image galleries, fact sheets and audio descriptions to help users identify and manage pests.
The apps are regularly updated through a collaboration of Extension specialists from several land-grant universities and the Southern IPM Center.
“And that’s really the most amazing thing about these apps, is that with as much input as they receive from specialists around the country, the apps are completely free,” explained Blaauw.
Updates are instantly pushed out to devices with the downloaded apps, and once content is downloaded or updated on a device, the information can be accessed offline for use in the field.
The apps include the following features:
Updates are instantly pushed out to devices with downloaded MyIPM apps, and once content is downloaded or updated on a device, the information can be accessed offline for use in the field.
Diagnostics, including descriptions and picture galleries of fruit crop diseases, pests and disorders
Name and description of the causal agents, including two- to four-minute audio from the regional specialist
Chemical, biological and cultural control tactics
Interactive tables featuring registered conventional and biological active ingredients for each disease or pest, sortable by FRAC codes, FRAC risk and efficacy
Active ingredients and trade names that are linked to each other
Trade names and their rates per acre, PHI values and REI values plus their risk to the environment, field workers and pollinators
Search feature to list active ingredients and trade names for each disease or pest together with efficacy and rate per acre
Users can quickly see which crops and diseases a product is registered for, at what rate it is used and how effective it will be. One of the most important features of both apps helps users sort chemicals by groups and generate a plan to rotate or mix active ingredients to optimize performance and mitigate fungicide resistance. Information about resistance risk for each product reminds users to be careful and follow strict resistance management guidelines.
And while the target audience is primarily commercial growers in terms of the chemical recommendations provided by both apps, Blaauw explains that many of the identification, diagnostic and cultural management tools are beneficial for homeowners as well.
For more information on the MyIPM and MyIPM Row Crops apps, visit apps.bugwood.org.
Emily Cabrera is a writer for the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences at the University of Georgia.
While bees and butterflies often feel the public’s love, less conventionally attractive creepy-crawlies like cicadas and Joro spiders are left out in the cold—or, worse, squished. “I think insect conservation is one of the most overlooked areas of conservation biology,” says William Snyder, a professor of entomology in UGA’s College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences. “They’re not huggable; not many species of insects are charismatic. But insects support so many ecosystems.” Why should you care? Well, for starters, bugs are everywhere. Insects alone make up more than half of all the animals on Earth.
Over a Zoom call from Switzerland, University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences alum Consuelo De Moraes shows a video of a bumblebee nibbling on a leaf in a semicircular motion, a behavior that accelerates the flowering process when pollen is scarce. As she explains the movements of the bumblebee, she is wide-eyed and fascinated. This insect behavior is one of the latest discoveries for De Moraes, a chemical ecologist and professor who directs the Laboratory of Biocommunication and Entomology at ETH Zürich.
For the first time in its history, the University of Georgia topped $600 million in research and development expenditures in fiscal year 2024. Its $628.1 million in expenditures represents a 10% increase year over year and yet another record high in R&D activity, marking the sixth consecutive year of growth for the university. “The University of Georgia is embracing its role as one of America’s top public research universities, and I am grateful to everyone who is helping us advance this vital mission,” said President Jere W. Morehead.
Supported by a $1.1 million award from the National Science Foundation, University of Georgia entomologists Gaelen Burke and Michael Strand are seeking answers about how parasitic wasp biology has developed to use viruses passed down from parent to offspring to ensure survival. Scientists have been able to trace the relationship between the wasps and their viruses back 100 million years. Today about 55,000 types of wasps carry these types of inherited viruses.
People love the taste of sugar beets’ primary byproduct: white sugar. Soilborne cyst nematodes — parasitic, microscopic worms — enjoy the root vegetable, too, but as their sole food source. It’s an obstinate, expensive problem for farmers that researchers at the University of Georgia’s College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences are working to solve.
Native to several Asian countries, the spotted lanternfly (Lycorma delicatula) was first detected in the United States in 2014 in Pennsylvania, likely arriving via imported goods. Since its arrival, the pest has spread to 15 states in the Eastern U.S., now including Georgia. While they do not bite or sting humans or animals, University of Georgia experts stress that early detection, prevention strategies and timely interventions are crucial to minimizing the spread and impact of this pest on a variety of plants.
