S14 - Session P5 - Increasing integrated pest management (IPM) knowledge for ornamental plant enterprises

Authors: Elizabeth Vassilaros *

South Florida's climate makes it a great location to grow a wide variety of ornamental crops, generating 28,600 jobs and $129 million in total annual sales. However, the same favorable environmental conditions are also ideal for several pests and diseases that affect these crops. For that reason, Miami-Dade County is considered as "ground zero" for new invasive plant pests entering the US via national and international ports of entry. Because the ornamental plant's market value is based on a plant's healthy appearance, pest prevention and management efforts are very important to this industry's sustainability. The University of Florida (UF) Extension service focus on providing free consultation and educational trainings to ornamental plant nursery enterprises. Recommendations include prevention, evaluation, and management of these pests and diseases. Participants are growers, green industry supervisors, nursery staff, horticulturists, plant consultants, and individuals or organizations interested in starting an ornamental plant business. In the last five years only, from 2016 to 2020. 1,447 participants attended 49 workshops. 881 participants attended 31 IPM related programs. From these, 63% (n=551) reported the following: Clientele found that the content was relevant to their needs: 4.6/5.0 on the Likert scale. (Where 1 = No relevance and 5= Extremely relevant to their needs). Knowledge gain increased in topics such as: Whiteflies (33%), bacterial and fungal diseases in tropical crops (40%), scouting for pests (52%) and invasive snails (80%) to cite a few examples of topics taught by Extension educator. These trainings were taught in two major spoken languages in Florida, USA: English and Spanish.