Platforma Sygnalizacji Agrofagów - Online Pest Warning System

Methods for alerting and monitoring of plant pests

Regular monitoring of plant pests is a vital element of integrated pest management. This is the basic activity aimed at the identification of risks to crops posed by harmful organisms, that is the phytosanitary status of crops. The monitoring of plant pests allows for the determination of the current phytosanitary status of crops for the purpose of forecasting the optimal date for the implementation of the protective treatment, otherwise alerting for the time of treatments. Skilful use of observational data on the emergence and increase in the population of pests helps in the development of pest control strategies, minimizes the risk of potential damage, and prevents the overuse of chemicals, often unnecessary, which is pointed out in the Directive on Integrated Pest Management.

Methods for monitoring and alerting for the occurrence of plant pests include the following sections:

1. Taxonomy.

2. Pest description and biology.

3. Images of damage.

4. Effect of environmental factors on the development of pests.

5. Alerts on protective treatments:

a) control dates and economic injury levels,

b) methods for establishing dates of chemical control treatments.

6. Methods for estimation of the level of damage caused by pests.