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Mar 2025

U.S. Pesticide Policy is Influenced by Stakeholder Comments Managed by the Western IPM Center

Publication (PDF, 2.2MB)

Authors: Alfred J Fournier, Alexa M Brown, Matt, Baur, Danielle Lightle, Katie Murray, Natalie Hein-Ferris, Marion Murray, Steve Elliot, Wayne Dixon, Petter C. Ellsworth

Comments submitted in response to pesticide registration review issues influence federal pesticide policy. An analysis of 95 comments from the Western U.S. submitted in coordination with the Western IPM Center, including 48 comments from University of Arizona, showed that 92% of comments provided substantive data that informed EPA registration review. In 22% of cases, comments had a direct influence on the outcomes, supporting productive and efficient agriculture while protecting human health and the environment.
Jan 2025

Keys to Effective Aphid Management in Leafy Vegetables (2025)

Publication (PDF, 180kb)

Authors: John C. Palumbo

For vegetable growers to successfully compete in the fresh market, they must be able to produce high quality, insect-free crops. This is particularly challenging for growers of leafy vegetables where damage by aphids can seriously reduce yield and quality. In many areas that produce lettuce, aphids are considered the most economically important insect pest found on the crop
Nov 2024

Diagnostic Resources for Pests and Beneficial Insects on Specialty Crops

Publication (PDF, 1.4MB)

Authors: Gene Hall, Davide Bergamaschi, John Palumbo, Peter Ellsworth, Carlos Martinez, Isadora Bordini, Naomi Pier, Wendy Moore

Arizona is home to extremely insect diversity, with minimal estimates of 20,000 species in our state. Many pest and beneficial species occur on specialty crops, thus being of economic importance to Arizona stakeholders and crop production. Accurate species identification is essential to select best control methods, and knowing which species are beneficial for controlling pest species helps maintain a natural balance of interactions within crop fields.
Jul 2024

Insecticide Usage on Conventional and Organic Lettuce in the Desert, 2005-2024

Publication

Authors: John C. Palumbo

The development of accurate data on insecticide usage is important to the assessment of IPM programs in Arizona. A reliable estimate of insecticide use patterns is one of our most objective tools for assessing changes in management practices. This information allows us to build relevant databases for measuring user behaviors and adoption of new IPM technologies. For PCAs, it can translate their efforts into economic terms for their clientele and confirms their value to the lettuce industry by showing the importance of their cost-effective management in desert lettuce production. This summary provides estimates of insecticide use during the 2023-24 growing season and trends on lettuce IPM over the past 20 years.
May 2024

Weed Interference with Insect Management in Desert Crops (2024)

Publication (PDF, 757KB)

Authors: John C. Palumbo

Effective weed management is critical for the profitable production of vegetable crops in the desert southwest for all the obvious reasons. However, weed management is also essential for another important, but often overlooked, reason. Several common weed species found in and around vegetable crops can serve as host plants to many insect pests that can later infest nearby crops. Additionally, when weeds are not controlled in the field, they can be an impediment to effective insect control.
Oct 2023

Identifying the Foundation of the IPM Network – Laying the Groundwork for Growth

Publication (PDF, 2MB)

Authors: Mueller, D., L. Iles, C. Pilcher, R. Magarey

Presentation of the Regional IPM Centers to the National IPM Coordinating Committee
Oct 2023

Arizona IPM Outcomes 2023. Report to the WERA 1017 Regional Coordinating Committee

Publication (1.28MB)

Authors: Al Fournier, Dawn Gouge, Shujuan Li, Peter Ellsworth

Recent impacts of APMC IPM Programs. Topics include savings to growers from thrips and Lygus resistant ThryvOn Cotton, a project to reduce use of the riskiest pesticides throughout US cotton, collaborations with tribal growers and communities to protect public health, and more.
Jul 2023

Trends in Insect Losses and Management on Desert Lettuce: A 19-Year Summary

Publication

Authors: John C. Palumbo

The development of accurate data on lettuce yield losses is important to the assessment of IPM programs in Arizona. Reliable estimates of yield losses caused by key insect pests occurring in lettuce is our most objective tools for assessing change in management practices. This information allows us to build relevant databases for measuring the pest status of important insect species found on desert lettuce, as well as the economic impacts they are responsible for. This information also serves as a resource to assist applied scientists in prioritizing research projects in developing IPM programs for desert lettuce. For PCAs, this data can demonstrate their efforts into economic terms for their growers, and justifies their value to the lettuce industry by showing the importance of insect pests in desert lettuce production. This summary over the past nineteen growing seasons (2004-2023) provides real world data on the pest status of key insect species, economics of insect management, and estimates of yield losses in lettuce.
Jun 2023

Insecticide Usage on Conventional and Organic Lettuce in the Desert, 2022-2023

Publication

Authors: John C. Palumbo

The development of accurate data on insecticide usage is important to the assessment of IPM programs in Arizona. A reliable estimate of insecticide use patterns is one of our most objective tools for assessing changes in management practices. This information allows us to build relevant databases for measuring user behaviors and adoption of new IPM technologies. For PCAs, it can translate their efforts into economic terms for their clientele and confirms their value to the lettuce industry by showing the importance of their cost-effective management in desert lettuce production. This summary provides estimates of insecticide use during the 2022-23 growing season and trends on lettuce IPM over the past 19 years.
Jul 2022

Insect Losses and Management on Desert Lettuce: An 18 Year Summary

Publication

Authors: John C. Palumbo
Jun 2022

Insecticide Usage on Conventional and Organic Lettuce in the Desert, 2021-2022

Publication

Authors: John C. Palumbo

The development of accurate data on insecticide usage is important to the assessment of IPM programs in Arizona. A reliable estimate of insecticide use patterns is one of our most objective tools for assessing changes in management practices. This information allows us to build relevant databases for measuring user behaviors and adoption of new IPM technologies. For PCAs, it can translate their efforts into economic terms for their clientele and confirms their value to the lettuce industry by showing the importance of their cost-effective management in desert lettuce production. This summary provides estimates of insecticide use during the 2020-21 growing season and trends on lettuce IPM over the past 17 years.
Jun 2022

NCC Response To Sulfoxaflor

Publication (PDF, 1MB)

Authors: Peter C. Ellsworth and Alfred J. Fournier

Arizona Pest Management Center response to National Cotton Council query on the use of Sulfoxaflor in Arizona cotton.
Nov 2021

The Benefits of Plants for Human Health in Healthcare Settings

Publication (PDF, 1.4MB)

Authors: Ursula Schuch

Gardens have multiple health benefits and have been a component of healthcare facilities through the ages. In the last 30 years, the benefits of nature, gardens, and garden views have been studied to document physical and mental health benefits of patients, staff, and visitors. Healing or therapeutic gardens are designed specifically to evoke positive effects on physical, mental, and spiritual health and to address the needs of those visiting the space. In this article, some concepts applicable to gardens in health care settings in the arid Southwest are discussed.
Oct 2020

Symptom Identification and Management of Cotton Seedling Diseases

Publication (PDF, 1.2MB)

Authors: Jiahuai Hu, Randy Norton

Seedling diseases, also known as damping-off (seedling death), are caused by several common soil-inhabiting fungi acting alone or collectively during pre-emergence and postemergence of cotton seedlings. Seedling diseases are common but often a minor problem in cotton production areas of Arizona in most years. However, significant stand loss to seedling diseases can occur sporadically in some fields without good crop rotation history.
Sep 2020

Alternaria Leaf Spot of Cotton

Publication

Authors: Jiahuai Hu and Randy Norton

Alternaria leaf spot of cotton is also known as Alternaria leaf blight. The disease was first identified in cotton in the US in 1918 and is now distributed worldwide. Alternaria leaf spot has been considered a minor disease in the cotton growing areas of Arizona.
Sep 2020

Goss’s Bacterial Wilt and Leaf Blight of Corn

Publication

Authors: Jiahuai Hu

Goss’s bacterial wilt and leaf blight (Goss’s wilt) was first recorded in Nebraska in the late 1960s and is now distributed widely in most states throughout the Corn Belt. The disease was first detected on field corn in southeastern Arizona in 2018.
Sep 2020

Fusarium Wilt of Cotton

Publication (PDF, 1.8M)

Authors: Jiahuai Hu, Randy Norton

Fusarium wilt is a destructive vascular wilt and root rot of many plant species, including all species of domesticated cotton.
Aug 2020

Insecticide Usage on Desert Lettuce, 2019-2020

Publication

Authors: John C. Palumbo

The development of accurate data on insecticide usage is important to the assessment of IPM programs in Arizona. A reliable estimate of insecticide use patterns is one of our most objective tools for assessing changes in management practices. This information allows us to build relevant databases for measuring user behaviors and adoption of new IPM technologies. For PCAs, it can translate their efforts into economic terms for their clientele and confirms their value to the lettuce industry by showing the importance of their cost-effective management in desert lettuce production. This summary provides estimates of insecticide use trends on lettuce over the past 16 years.
Jun 2020

Do Antimicrobial Water Sanitizers Affect Insecticide Efficacy in Desert Produce?

Publication (PDF, 520Kb)

Authors: John C. Palumbo

Food safety issues have become increasingly important in the production of leafy vegetables in the desert. Recent concerns about microbial contamination of produce grown in the desert prompted the Arizona Leafy Greens Marketing Agreement (AZLGMA) to develop new Food Safety Guidelines for lettuce and leafy greens.
Jun 2020

Ten Years of Bagrada Bug on Desert Cole Crops

Publication (PDF, 618Kb)

Authors: John C. Palumbo

The bagrada bug, Bagrada hilaris, became a major pest of cole crops in the fall of 2010 where widespread out breaks of the invasive stinkbug pest were reported throughout the desert SW. The resulting yield losses in broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, and other Brassica crops were economically significant.

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