Reprinted from GRAIN JOURNAL March/April 2020 Issue
Dannis Warf
Integrated pest management (IPM) is a sustainable approach to pest control that integrates biological, cultural, physical, and chemical control into systems to minimize the economic, environmental, and social risks of infestation.
Some common goals of IPM programs include: reducing pesticide input, reducing insect pest numbers, and maintaining high grain quality.
SLAM Approach
We recommend a four-part approach to IPM, referred to as SLAM, which consists of sanitation, loading, aeration, and monitoring.
Sanitation. Your goal with sanitation is to enter an empty bin and not be able to tell what commodity was in that bin most recently. To meet this goal, you need to clean every crack and crevice of your bins. Pay particular attention to cleaning plenums, false floors, and augers. Be sure to patch all holes and cracks in floors, walls, and roofs. Clear weeds and spilled grain around the outside of your storage structures. You also need to clean out any equipment that handles grain.
It also can be a good idea to apply an insecticide to the inside of storage structures on the floor and walls. On the outside, spray up to 3 feet around the foundation.
Loading. Loading tanks properly results in good air circulation throughout the grain mass. If a bin has been loaded improperly, you won’t be able to aerate the grain. Adding a protectant chemical to the grain is recommended.
Aeration. As a general rule of thumb, you won’t have insect activity if your grain is 50 degrees F or cooler. When temperatures increase, you become susceptible to insect activity, molds, and fungi.
Monitoring. Just because you exercise proper sanitation, loading, and aeration doesn’t mean you should ignore your grain for six months or a year, expecting everything to remain perfect. You need to check grain temperatures and probe for samples often. Diligent monitoring allows you to see the warning signs of potential issues at a point in time when you can do something about them, before they become disastrous.
Chemical Control Options
If you discover insects at any life stage in or near your grain, fumigation is recommended. Some common fumigants include aluminum/magnesium phosphide (most common), and sulfuryl fluoride. These are non-residual and restricted-use chemicals, which may be used only under qualified conditions by qualified applicators.
If you are applying liquid grain protectants for residual control of insects, the objective is to distribute the product onto the grain mass evenly – but you don’t need to worry about treating every single kernel. You should use approximately 5 gallons of liquid solution per 1,000 bushels of grain to be treated. It will increase the moisture of the grain mass only by about 0.02%.
Some of the best application points are a confluence point of a belt and a leg, an accessible part of a belt ahead of a leg, or an accessible part of a belt ahead of the entrance of a bin. Never apply liquid treatments at a bucket elevator. The dusty environment will combine with the liquid to create a mud-like substance on nearby surfaces.
When placing your tank and pump, consider how easy it will be to mix and load. The volume of your pump must be large enough for recirculation a minimum of three times per hour. All liquid products must be agitated to keep them mixed.
Tucker Scharfenberg, managing editor
