It’s hard to fit the scope of Pine Island’s integrated crop management program into one blog entry. As our PIICM manager Cristina Tassone said a couple of weeks ago, PIICM “won’t work without the whole thing…everything is related, more and more every day.” Our PIICM program is a comprehensive one, based on managing the relationships between water, soils, weather, disease, insects, and nutrition, constantly evaluating current conditions as well as history and trends in order to help make good decisions with regard to water management, pest control, and other issues. We pride ourselves on using techniques to maintain the balance of natural predators and don’t apply chemicals unless absolutely necessary.

One of our core values here at Pine Island Cranberry is doing what needs to be done when it’s time to do it. A corollary to this, of course, is that if nothing needs to be done, we leave well enough alone. We used to spray on a calendar schedule; now we let nature lead the way.

To that end, one of the most important things we do is scouting. We take a net and sweep a section of bog:

And then we check to see what turns up. In this case, Cristina immediately found a spotted fireworm:

In addition to using nets, Cristina also looks at budding plants to see if the larvae are making a home:

If the count reaches the threshold level, we will do what needs to be done; if the amount is negligible, we leave it alone.

Our PIICM manager also follows up with other scouts in the field. This week, Matt and Jeremy were scouting Turtle bog:

Not everything will be spotted while in the field, so they gather specimens to examine back at the office:

Once the data is analyzed, Cristina will consult with others for the best way to proceed.

PIICM is a season-long process; as the season goes on, we’ll blog about different aspects of the program.