Comparison of IPM Tactics in Home Vegetable Gardens: Tomato

A pilot project focused on IPM for home gardens was conducted by establishing demonstration trials at public garden sites in three cities (Wooster, Stow and Twinsburg)in northeastern Ohio, USA. Three strategies for disease and insect pest management were compared: 1)"low maintenance" with emphasis on cultural practices, a management style common among gardeners lacking time for laborintensive gardening; 2)"integrated biorational", utilizing integrated cultural and biorational tactics, with biorational pesticides applied only when needed; and 3)"traditional IPM", utilizing cultural tactics and conventional synthetic chemicals. Tomatoes, zucchini squash, snap beans and collards were planted in each garden. Early blight (Alternaria solani)and Septoria leaf spot (Septoria lycopersici)were the principal foliar diseases observed in tomatoes in all three sites; disease pressure was low-moderate. Tomatoes in the traditional IPM and integrated biorational systems had less foliar disease throughout the season, as measured by the Area Under the Disease Progress Curve (AUDPC), and at the end of the growing season than the low maintenance system in all three sites. The traditional IPM system yielded the most total fruit yield or percentage of marketable fruit and significantly fewer fruits with anthracnose, hornworm and stinkbug damage. There were no significant differences between strategies in percentage of fruits with blossom end rot for the three sites.