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 and public relations coordinator for the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences at the University of Georgia.
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