Integrated Pest Management or "IPM" is a sustainable approach to controlling pests by combining biological, cultural, physical, and chemical tools in a way that minimizes economic, health, and environmental risks. By adopting IPM practices a Christmas tree grower can use fewer pesticides and fertilizers, improve tree quality and growth, protect beneficial organisms, enhance wildlife habitat, and protect soil and water resources.
IPM has influenced all aspects of our tree production. Through acquiring information by soil and plant foliage sampling we have reduced our fertilizer input by about 50%. This keeps nitrogen and phosphorus additions to the environment to a minimum. Through insect scouting our use of insecticides has been reduced by 40%. By understanding pest biology we have learned to avoid killing beneficial insects and spraying our trees much less than people think. In fact during the 8 year life of a Christmas tree it is typically sprayed with insecticide only 5 times!
The protection of soil and water quality on the steep slopes of the mountains is very important to us. We helped develop and continue to use a ground cover management practice that maintains a ground cover year round and accomplishes this with very very little herbicide use. Having a constant ground cover of low-growing native mountain wild flowers affects all aspects of tree production including fertilizer uptake, protecting nutrient rich top soil and creating habitats for both beneficial insects and wildlife, Our farm is home to white tailed deer, wild turkeys, ruffed grouse, bobwhite quail, black bear, rabbits, squirrels, songbirds and honeybees.
