MSU Extension’s floriculture team has launched a new educational video series to assist greenhouse growers.
The five-part series features biological control strategies that help manage pests in greenhouse production in spring crops.
Floriculture Educator Jeremy Jubenville tells us this is a beginner focused series that will help them learn the basics from growers first hand.
“Pesticide resistance is a really big problem in agriculture itself, in forage culture systems, especially in greenhouses,”Jubenville says. “Insects have a habit of developing resistance to pesticides. What works one year may not work so well the next year. And after a while, growers start using tools. A lot of our educational approach has been resistance management. Biological control is another one of those tools.”
Viewers can not only hear from experts but also see real-life demonstrations of application techniques and how these methods work in commercial greenhouse use.
“We worked with three or four different growers on this process and what they’ll do, it’s kind of like a show and tell,” Jubenville says. “They will talk about how they do things, why they do them that way, and then they will demonstrate that for us. These growers have gone through the learning process, they all made mistakes, they got better, and then they started innovating within their own greenhouses and they’re very successful with it.”
You can check out the full video series through MSU Extension’s floriculture resources.
