Pest And Disease Control Case Study

Introduction
Write an assignment on the following:
A. Pest and disease control measures and legislative control practices
B. The effects, reproduction and control of weeds

1. Describe five specific situations where pest and disease control measures are required.

1. Vine weevil: This is a beetle that attacks a wide range of plants, both indoors and outdoors but can be especially damaging to container plants. He is a very common and devastating pest. He needs to be controlled otherwise he will kill the plant. Adult weevils eat plant leaves during spring and summer it’s the grubs that cause most damage in autumn and winter when they eat the roots of the plant. Plants growing in containers are most likely to be severely damaged by the vine

Vine Weevil: Inspect plants and pick off the adult weevils, shake shrubs over a newspaper to dislodge them. In greenhouses check under pots and under benches where beetles hide. You can trap the adults with sticky barriers placed around pots. Encourage natural predators, e.g. birds, shrews, hedgehogs and predatory ground beetles. There is also a biological control in the form of a nematode available. There is also a chemical available called “chlorpyferous” which gives protection against the grubs.

2. Honey Fungus: You can use resistant varieties, avoid water logging, shading, drought areas, protect roots from damage, avoid planting at an infected site, infected roots and stumps should be removed. Soil sterilisation using approved chemical products will control the disease.

3. Slugs: Rake the garden in spring to remove leaves also move boards and other material you may find slugs hide in, trapping and hand picking helps to get rid of slugs. You can also use copper barriers/strips to trap the slugs in, animals such as beetles, shrews, ducks and starlings feed on them. As a chemical method you can use slug pellets in the form of iron sulphate, you can use a slug bait “metaldehyde” which is a liquid paste that when eaten by the slugs it destroys

Red-spider mite: The best way to control red spider mite is by natural predators, encourage ladybirds, lacewings, and predatory mites. You can use a pesticide in the form of an insecticidal soap spray of oil where you wash the leaves twice daily morning and evening. Good hygiene keeps plants healthy and areas around plants free of debris/dust make sure the plant has enough water as red spider mites don’t like damp conditions.

Describe the relevant legislative control practices including notifiable pests and diseases:

The Department of Agriculture Food and the Marine issue warnings regarding notifiable pest and diseases. The information sheets that are available for the department will describe the pest or diseases that are currently listed with symptoms and action to be taken. Information can be obtained from the department on the current list of notifiable pests and diseases by going to [e-mail]

Warnings can be sent to growers through the news media, newsletters or general warnings, samples of any new symptom or pest can be sent to a government laboratory to be tested in your area. There findings and actions will be dealt with by the department of agriculture if deemed to be a threat to food stock