Webinars Teach IPM to National Audience

Six webinars have been held by the North Central Consumer Horticulture IPM Working Group to teach IPM practices on tomatoes, cucurbits, raspberries, shade trees, conifers, and apples for home gardeners. The webinars have reached Extension Master Gardeners and Extension Educators in many states, with attendance ranging from 472–1447 in 5–29 states. An attempt to gauge the change in IPM knowledge level resulted in self reported gains of 13% (tomatoes) to 54% (apples) of respondents who indicated a medium knowledge level (as opposed to low or high) after the webinars. Answers to 60 specific IPM questions improved as well, for example before the cucurbits webinar 58% of participants knew that the squash vine borer could be avoided by planting in July after the borer has laid eggs for the summer, but after the webinar 80% knew this management practice. Sixty-six percent of participants knew that soil borne diseases that infect solanaceous crops also infect raspberries but after the webinar 90% of the participants knew this information. Specific pests, such as the two-lined chestnut borer on oaks were known by only 14% of participants before the webinar, however afterward 57% answered that this was a common pest for transplanted oaks. Participants liked (74% to 90%) the 90-minute length of the webinars; the majority (68% to 92%) felt there was a good mix of content and questions. Technical problems were reported by 30% to 79% of participants using UMN Adobe Connect technology and 20% to 35% using UMNWebex. Challenges for future webinars are obtaining accurate participant attendance numbers, especially when using host sites; consistent participant pre and post webinar assessments; and problem free technology.