| Integrated Pest Management (IPM) for Banana Bunchy Top Disease (BBTD) in Hawaii |
Who should use the IPM tactic |
| IPM tactic |
Goal of IPM tactic |
Farmer |
Residential |
| Plant disease-free plants
(all bananas are susceptible) |
Keeps the disease out of new area |
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tissue culture, indexing, seed |
| Long-term aphid control |
Reduces the spread of disease within and between locations by eliminating the disease vector |
approved insecticides |
insecticidal soap |
| Frequent scouting for diseased banana plants |
Reduces the spread of disease by removing source of disease |
weekly |
bi-weekly |
| Immediate and proper destruction of diseased plants and wild patches, watch for diseased re-growth |
Reduces the spread of disease by eliminating source of disease within a healthy population |
|
Roundup Ultra Max, chopping and digging |
| Kill mats when a BBTV-infected plant is found, spray the surrounding plants with an aproved aphicide, destroy all banana plants in the affected mat, and consider the destruction of plants within a given radius of the diseased plant |
Reduces the numbers of potentially infected plants in the banana population; plants can carry the virus for up to 125 days without showing disease symptoms. |
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| Destroy weed hosts for aphids |
Reduces vector population to minimize disease occurrence |
herbicides |
herbicides, manual weeding |
| Control ants (difficult, costly and may be impractical) |
Reduces ant populations so that aphid populations will decrease due to lack of proteection from natural enemies |
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| Biological control of aphids |
Uses predators and parasites to reduce populations of the banana aphid |
beneficials |
beneficials |
| Control aphids on alternate hosts |
Minimizes the banana aphid populations where they are colonizing nearby non-banana plants which host the banana aphid |
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| Create banana-free buffer zone around farm (wild patches) |
Eliminates the only known wild host for the banana bunchy top virus within the vicinity of a farm |
Roundup Ultra Max |
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| Use wind breaks (tall plants) |
Reduces number of fly-in aphids |
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Avoid transport of banana plants or plant material
(Note: it is safe to move fruit). |
Reduces the probability of spreading infectious aphids and diseased planting material to virus-free areas of Hawaii |
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| Report new BBTD outbreaks |
Slows down the spread of BBTD in Hawaii |
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| Support BBTD research |
Finds long-term solutions to the BBTD epidemic |
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| Practice diversified agriculture |
Minimizes dependence upon single plant; reduces spread and impact of plant disease |
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