Experiential Nursery IPM Workshop Series to Enhance Grower Practice Adoption

Three, two-day, hands-on, experiential workshops were presented in Quincy, FL, Decherd, TN, and Raleigh, NC to both Cooperative Extension agents and growers in June 2014. Space was limited to 35 participants due to the hands-on nature of teaching. Four disciplines, Entomology, Plant Pathology, Weed Science, and Horticulture/Technology each had four hours to provide attendees content, which consisted of illustrated lectures, plant and pest samples used for identification, calculation of soil physical properties, irrigation assessments, and scouting walks through both nursery and landscape. Growers at each workshop were given a demographics survey when they arrived on day 1 (n≤51). After each four hour discipline session, attendees completed a survey to determine their gains in knowledge for the discipline and gains in building skills for completing some of the tasks presented. Additionally, attendees were asked which of the skills presented they might adopt into practice over the summer. An end of season survey (5 months later; n≤15) was sent to growers to determine which practices were adopted, how they affected their production practices, and whether or not they will continue the practices in the future. The growers changed their behavior and adopted management practices as a result of attending. Initially, this group of growers was similar to another group called G2, defined as medium level practitioners of IPM by LeBude et al. (2012). For some practices, a higher percentage of growers in the present group adopted these tasks compared to those in G2. For other practices, adoption was similar or slightly less than growers in G2. Without exception, the growers attending the workshops are better practitioners of IPM, and prove that those within the larger context of G2 in the southeast are equally capable of learning new practices and adopting them in higher percentages given adequate educational opportunities and resources. A follow-up study will be conducted in 2016 to determine if these practices were continued by the population. Additionally, efforts need to be made, both empirically and in practice, to determine how effective these practices are in nursery production systems in terms of economic impact and improving plant health and will be reported. Complete training and education kits with instructions, supply lists, and either recorded or provided presentations are needed with embedded evaluation tools that can send efficacy information through smartphones of participants.