By Denise Attaway
South Carolina farmers have a powerful tool in the fight against crop pests and diseases. The MyIPM for Row Crops is a free smartphone app designed to help growers identify and manage pest and disease threats in key crops.
Available for Android and iPhone devices, the free app features photos and descriptions of pests and diseases affecting corn, cotton, peanuts, sorghum, soybeans and wheat. It also offers integrated pest management (IPM) strategies, including registered pesticide options for each threat.
“This app complements our Extension production guides and pest management handbook,” said Francis Reay-Jones, Clemson Extension IPM coordinator at the Pee Dee Research and Education Center near Florence, South Carolina. “Because all content is downloaded directly to the phone, users can access it in the field—even without a signal.”
With a user-friendly interface, the app allows users to select a crop and the pest or disease of concern. A search bar lets users find pesticides by active ingredient or trade name, usage rates and efficacy ratings.
Each pest page includes an overview, photo gallery, and chemical and non-chemical control options. Information includes resistance management details, biological control alternatives and pesticide safety information like preharvest intervals (PHI) and reentry intervals (REI).
Users can also explore pests and diseases by crop and browse a color-coded list of active ingredients based on industry-recognized resistance management codes.
Clemson researchers maintain the app in partnership with scientists from eight other universities across the Southeast and Mid-Atlantic. Updates are delivered instantly via an external database, ensuring farmers have the latest information.
MyIPM for Row Crops is part of the broader MyIPM app series. This series was first launched in 2012 by Clemson professor Guido Schnabel for fruit crop disease management.
Source : clemson.edu