Intended audience: Nursery staff, agri-businesses/consultants, and other IPM specialists

I’m very happy to announce the return of IPM workshops for nursery crops! Register by filling out the following form: Click here. These half day, in-person only workshops are geared towards nursery staff/commercial producers and IPM specialists and will be held in three different locations on the following dates:

Tuesday, February 27: Hampton Community Hall, Hampton (North of Bowmanville).
Sponsored by Kobes Nurseries

Wednesday, February 28: Bethany Community Church, St. Catharines.
Sponsored by J.C. Bakker & Sons

Thursday, February 29: Copetown Community Centre, Dundas.
Sponsored by NVK Nurseries

Note; all three dates will have the same presentations and material, please only register for one of the dates in the location that is closest to you.

You MUST register for this workshop in advance as space at some venues is limited. These workshops are free to attend but you must register by filling out the following form linked here or pasting this URL into your web browser: https://forms.office.com/r/j6kppJyu1Y
Those who complete the form and register will get details emailed to them the week before the workshops. Please register before February 20th!

The IPM workshops will feature presentations from…

Cassie Russell (OMAFRA’s Nursery and Landscape Specialist) who will be presenting on the pest challenges of 2023 as well as what’s on the horizon and what to expect in 2024 as well as sharing helpful IPM related resources.

Katie Goldenhar, OMAFRA’s pathologist for horticulture crops, will provide a refresher on disease diagnosing skills with her talk titled “Fungi, Bacteria, Viruses, Oh My! How Pathogen Diagnostics Can Inform Your Disease Management“

Mike Short from Eco Habitat Agri Services will be talking about how to bring in free help in your fight against pests and what signs to look for that show that it’s working, with his talk titled “Utilizing Natural Enemies in Your IPM Program”

Ree Laforet, IPM Crop Tech and Plant Health Coordinator at Sheridan Nurseries, will be presenting “Biological Control in Wholesale Nursery Crops: Tales from the Front Line”. In his talk, Ree will cover commercially-available organisms, firsthand accounts of 3 beneficial organism trials conducted in 2022 and 2023, the challenges with scaling up from single greenhouse application, and tactics to succeed with bios.

Don’t miss out! We hope to see you there. Again PLEASE FILL OUT THE FORM linked above to register so that you can be emailed important details prior to the workshops. Questions, comments, concerns? Please email me at cassie.russell@ontario.ca