Pest and Weed Management Flashcards

What is Integrated Pest Management (IPM)?

Answer: A strategy combining biological, cultural, mechanical, and chemical controls to minimize economic damage

IPM uses a combination of methods—biological, cultural, mechanical, and chemical—to manage pests economically while minimizing environmental impact.

What is an 'economic threshold' in pest management?

Answer: The pest density at which control action must be taken to prevent economic loss

The economic threshold is the pest population level at which the cost of crop damage equals the cost of control, triggering a management decision.

Which weed management practice uses crop competition to suppress weed growth?

Answer: Increasing crop seeding rate and narrow row spacing

Increasing seeding rate and using narrow rows promote faster crop canopy closure, shading weeds and limiting their access to light and resources.

Palmer amaranth is considered one of the most problematic weeds in US row crops primarily because of what?

Answer: It has evolved resistance to multiple herbicide modes of action and grows extremely fast

Palmer amaranth grows up to 2–3 inches per day, produces hundreds of thousands of seeds, and has developed resistance to herbicides including glyphosate.

What does 'mode of action' refer to for a herbicide?

Answer: The biochemical pathway or enzyme in the plant the herbicide disrupts

A herbicide's mode of action describes the specific site (enzyme, protein, or process) in the plant that it inhibits to cause plant death.

European corn borer (ECB) larvae cause the most damage to corn at which crop stage?

Answer: During rapid vegetative growth and early reproductive stages (V6-R1)

ECB larvae feed on whorl leaves, then bore into stalks and ears during the vegetative and early reproductive stages, causing the greatest economic damage.