In 2023, Buncombe County green industry growers and producers approached Luke Owen, Buncombe County Commercial Horticulture Extension Agent, about providing more applied pesticide safety trainings in light of changing environmental pressures from shifting weather patterns, increasing urbanization, and pests/disease pressures shifting from invasive species populations. With over 500 pesticide applicators (both private and commercial), it is imperative that Extension Agents provide relevant and up-to-date information on invasive pests, diseases, and impacts of climate change and volatile weather patterns as it pertains to pesticide safety, plant selection, and other best management practices.
In response to this demand, a series of two pesticide safety topics were created to address environmental change in the context of plant selection and disease/pest management practices. A presentation entitled "Modern Cultivar Development and Impacts on Diseases/Pests in the Landscape" was created which talked about the impacts in applied plant breeding, what goes into a modern released cultivar, and discussed specific instances of how plant breeding has led to more rigorous and sustainable plants requiring less inputs (less pesticide, fertilizers, irrigation needed) which in turn leads to higher quality plants in the landscape.
A second presentation entitled "There's a Bad Moon on the Rise: Emerging Pests/Diseases in WNC" was created to discuss the 10 most concerning pests in the WNC region as it relates to landscape pests. This presentation provides awareness of selected pests and diseases that might have been introduced to the area within the last 10 years.
The end result of offering these presentations to local growers was almost 100% of pest safety participants (22 horticulturists that participated in lecture series) stating that the topics were more relevant to their needs and that they could apply what they learned in plant management and future purchases. This shows the significance and importance of updating course material to highlight new and emerging threats to green industry professionals so that they have the tools they need to be successful in the future. Better management practices that will be adopted as a result of this series include purchasing cultivars with increased resistance/tolerance to pests/diseases, as well as identifying alternative plant sources that are more hardy in the ever volatile weather experienced in the region. Concurrently, 4 hours of pesticide credits were also given as a result of this training fulfilling many of their recertification requirements for their respective pesticide license categories.
