Testing Organic Pesticides for Vegetable Production in the Southeast United States.

Organic farming is an integrated cropping system that excludes use of inorganic fertilizers, inorganic pesticides, antibiotics, genetically modified organisms and growth hormones. In the United States, organic farming represents an industry that is over $5.5 billion. The Midwest (Wisconsin) and the West coast (California) have the greatest land acreages under production of organic food. The southeastern (SE) region of the United States (USA) is behind all other regions in organic production Rapid decomposition of organic matter in soil and proliferation of pests associated with the warm temperatures and high precipitations are some of the reasons why organic production is limited in the SE. A pilot study was carried out at Tuskegee University to test effectiveness of selected OMRI (Organic Materials Review Institute)-approved organic pesticides in the management of a number of major insect pests. Selected organic pesticides have the following active ingredients: Azadirachtin, spinosad, pyrethrins, and the bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) The field experiment will be set out as a split plot design (4x3x4x4) representing four vegetable crops (sweet potato, tomato, squash and southern peas), three cultivars of each crop, and three pesticides (and a control) replicated four times. The objectives of this study are to: 1) Assess distinctive growth attributes of the four vegetable crops 2) Identify major crop pests of each crop using various sampling methods and 3) Identify two organic pesticides that are most effective in protecting each crop. Observation of foliar and soil borne diseases will be performed weekly. Results will be presented.