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HomeMy WebLinkAbout02-19-2020 IPM MinutesCITY OF SEBASTIAN INTEGRATED PEST MANAGEMENT SUB -COMMITTEE MINUTES OF REGULAR MEETING UPSTAIRS CONFERENCE ROOM 1225 MAIN STREET, SEBASTIAN, FL FEBRUARY 19, 2020 Call to Order The meeting was called to order by Mr. Benton at 3:10 p.m. Roll call Present: Mr. Carrano Ms. Brothers Mr. O'Neill Ms. Haigler Mr. Benton Not Present Dr. Cox — Excused Also Present: Janet Graham, Technical Writer III. Announcements: None IV. Public Input Mr. Benton called on anyone from the public who would like to speak. Robert Bedea, Sebastian. His main concern is the presentation that was put forth at the last Council meeting. There was a PowerPoint presentation made without anytime in a scientific fashion to make such claims. He also stated he is dismayed because the moratorium was lifted soon after it was put in place, all because of fire ants. He suggested that the best remedy for fire ant bites is coconut oil and baking soda mixed together. It takes the immediate sting away, and there is no residual sting or itch whatsoever. He suggested keeping some of that solution near the parks as a first -aid remedy that would be a better alternative than broadcasting poison. He also states that the community residents in general play a large part in this situation. The citizens must be educated as well, but he feels the City has to lead by example. INTEGRATED PEST MANAGEMENT SUB -COMMITTEE PAGE 2 MINUTES OF FEBRUARY 19, 2020 MEETING Mr. Benton stated using Orange Guard was suggested by a resident at one of the meetings. His staff purchased the product. He mentioned the results of that test at the City Council presentation. The product was applied to two different fire ant hills. He is not stating that it works or doesn't work. He is only reporting on the facts his staff found. He emphasized that the City and staff are not a testing agency. There is the University of Florida, IFAS, who can do the testing. Other places have done testing similar to this along with other products such as rice. The University of Florida, IFAS, has already given the testing results from those products, that they did not work. However, Sebastian still did tests of it because it was a member of the community's suggestion. Referring back to the Orange Guard product, it was applied. He returned two days later, and there was already an ant hill right beside where it had been applied where the ants had just moved over, in his opinion. He did not return to investigate either hill, but he went back before City Council's meeting of February 12 and tested both of the previous mounds. Both of them were drenched. One of them was active still, one was inactive. However, both of them had new ant hills that connected to them. So that was his report on that product at the City Council meeting. • Andrea Ring. She addressed the fire ant situation. She would prefer to control the ants with natural remedies rather than chemicals. She mentioned hot water. Ms. Haigler stated this committee will be discussing that at today's meeting. Ms. Ring stated that Indian River County says they use the vinegar and water on the big areas and asked if Sebastian has tried that. Mr. Benton stated his understanding is that they used the vinegar, soap and water against weeds. The parks director did state they use Top Choice for their fire ants in Indian River County. Mr. O'Neill stated there is someone at UCF who has a boiling water applicator that he has come up with that is like a steam machine. Mr. O'Neill has a call in to this gentleman to find out if it is commercially available or if he has the plans that he would make available to this committee. Mr. Benton stated he has information from some places where this machine has been tested for weeds. Ms. Ring inquired whether hot water would kill the mole crickets. Mr. Carrano said he did not find anything that has been tested like that. If really hot water is sprayed, that will also take out the grass. Beneficial insects —earthworms —will also be affected. INTEGRATED PEST MANAGEMENT SUB -COMMITTEE PAGE 3 MINUTES OF FEBRUARY 19, 2020 MEETING Seeing no one else from the public who would like to speak, Mr. Benton closed the public input session for now. V. New Business A. Review of GI BMP Manual Ms. Haigler stated she requested to have the manual here today, but her contact person did not reply. She stated that this manual, Green Industries Best Management Practices, is the manual that City staff were trained on. She stated it has great detail on cultural and physical controls. She reiterated that IFAS is the research institution for this; the City of Sebastian is not. They do statistically significant testing of things in different environments and different climates. They get research dollars to do this research to compile this information. It has been tested, retested, and proven time and again before it is published. Mr. Benton stated that a copy of this manual will be provided to all sub- committee members as soon as it is available. B. Committee member discussion of IPM for assigned species I. Description of the life history of each ii. Biological, cultural, mechanical, and chemical control recommendations Ill. Consider methods for use on Bermuda turf grass and general park areas iv. . Discussion of each method's costs, benefits and concerns FIRE ANTS — Mr. O'Neill inquired regarding the Advion product. Ms. Haigler stated it has been approved by the State of Florida for spot treatment and broadcast. Mr. Benton stated Indoxacarb is the product that is in Advion. Mr. O'Neill also inquired if Spinosad is a more natural solution. Ms. Haigler stated the way to know is to find out how it works. Natural products attack the ants' reproductive systems or their maturity rate. Mr. O'Neill stated that Entrust is the product with the Spinosad, and he inquired of Mr. Benton whether Entrust had been used by the City. Mr. Benton said he had not used it, but he would look into that product. Mr. O'Neill stated this is the one product that he found that was touted to be the least harmful. He stated he had investigated some other ones, and he had sent the information on those to Ms. Haigler. INTEGRATED PEST MANAGEMENT SUB -COMMITTEE PAGE 4 MINUTES OF FEBRUARY 19, 2020 MEETING Mr. O'Neill stated that Borax was another product that was mentioned several times in his research. Mr. Benton stated staff has not tested Borax, but it is something that can definitely be looked into. Mr. Benton emphasized that this committee is what is driving this project. He and Ms. Haigler want all the input that is possible but emphasized that the magnitude of the area that has to be maintained must be considered. Ms. Haigler stated that the City Manager pointed out there may be unintended consequences of testing some of these methods. Mr. O'Neill stated he got an email from Dr. Josh King at the Biology Department of UCF. He would like to have a conversation with Mr. O'Neill regarding fire ants. Mole Crickets -- Mr. Carrano stated the committee had seen examples of mole crickets when they visited two of the athletic fields. From what he has read, mole crickets are easy to kill with insecticides. Biological control is a bit more "iffy." There is a nematode and there is a Larra bicolor wasp which also targets only mole crickets. Indian River County was one of the counties where the wasps/files were used. It is believed that these wasps/flies are present, but what is needed is to attract them. They are nectar eaters, so something like a butterfly garden should attract them. Their life cycle ends in the mole cricket. The female injects the eggs into the mole cricket, and that's how the mole crickets die. He stated there is a product called NEMATECH S which can be spread in different areas, and it only attacks mole crickets. Mr. Benton stated he had done some research on that product, and it was his understanding that it was not as successful as they thought it was. The manufacturer of the product no longer offers it. Mr. Benton made the suggestion to build a type of garden to attract the wasps/flies. He queried whether this is something that will work now or is it something that could be put in now in order to manage the mole crickets in the future in a proactive manner. Mr. Carrano stated that by the time everything was put in place, it may be too late to be effective this year. Dr. Cox -- Sod webworms. As Dr. Cox was excused from this meeting, Mr. Benton reviewed the information Dr. Cox had sent in. Basically, several species of sod webworm commonly infest home lawns. The most severe damage usually occurs in July and August. They are larvae of lawn moths. Mr. Benton described that staff identifies them with a soap mixture that is applied, and the sod webworms will come right to the top of the ground. Mole crickets will do the same thing. Healthy turf grass, proper fertilization, and irrigation can decrease the susceptibility of turf grass against the webworrn. However, excessive fertilization is a leading cause of caterpillar outbreaks in lawns. For INTEGRATED PEST MANAGEMENT SUB -COMMITTEE PAGE 5 MINUTES OF FEBRUARY 19, 2020 MEETING biological control, there is a nematode that has been successfully tested against sod webwonns in Florida. Mr. Benton will have Dr. Cox look into that and see if it's available to purchase. There is also a bacterial -based insecticide. Spinosad may help control without impacting beneficial species. Mr. Benton read from Dr. Cox's notes. The important question is whether integrated pest management works on this pest. Despite the economic importance of the sod webworms, there has been little information on integrated pest management programs for this pest. Several insecticides may be used to control this pest, but appropriate timing, risk of resistance, and non -target aspects need to be considered. Finding larvae with soap flushes, especially if moths were previously seen, and spot treatment of infested areas are recommended. Current control recommendations are mainly application of above- ground chemical insecticides against larval stages. Control should be aimed at damaging larvae, not the flying moths. At least 10 chemical compounds are currently registered for control of lawn caterpillars, including sod webwonns, in North America. Directions for applying these products comes from the University of Nebraska, Lincoln Institute of Agricultural and Natural Resources, Department of Entomology. Crabgrass -- Ms. Brothers stated that crabgrass is an issue in the ball fields, not so much an issue in the non -athletic parks. The main cultural practice is already in place, which is to keep it mowed at whatever height is needed for the Bermuda grass, removing the clippings when the seed heads are present, and making sure the Bermuda grass is thriving, so the crabgrass doesn'ttake over. She said there is a long list of chemicals listed on the IFAS site that she still needs to research further. She inquired if there is a website where the costs of different products can be compared. Mr. Benton stated anything that any member finds that they want costs for, send it to staff, and he can get a cost estimate from the company that the City uses. Ms. Haigler stated she could set up a spreadsheet template to help list the products, what chemicals are used, how they work, cost, etc. Mr. Carrano mentioned that Florida has a very high ground water table in most areas, and so most things put into the ground leaches into the water. Mr. Benton asked whether anyone looked into the products the City uses currently to form an opinion as to whether we should absolutely not use those products. No one has done that yet. Mr. Benton asked that the members look at all the MSDS sheets that he sent out and provide input on those. Hearing no further questions or comments from the committee, Mr. Benton opened the meeting up for public input regarding the four pests that have been discussed. INTEGRATED PEST MANAGEMENT SUB -COMMITTEE PAGE 6 MINUTES OF FEBRUARY 19, 2020 MEETING Andrea Ring inquired about the fire ant situation at Friendship Park. Mr. Benton stated there is still a problem. It is not at the magnitude that it was previously. At this point some spot treatment can be done on the hills. He still wants to give it a little more time for what was applied the first time to allow it to run its course. He estimates that since the treatment was done the ant hills have been reduced by about 80 per cent. That was using Advion. Ms. Ring asked if the hot water could be used, because it does work. If it is necessary to buy a machine to produce the hot water and spray it properly, she thinks that would be the way to go. But it is necessary to know if it's going to work. Mr. Benton stated there are some issues with that. How do we get the water hot and keep it hot and get it out there? Mr. Benton stated the machine costs money. Staff can wait for some feedback and see what kind of results those people are getting. Let them do the testing. They have the funds. If Sebastian gets positive results from that, then City staff will make an effort to do the same tests, or something similar. He reminded everyone that with the number of parks in the City, it would involve a lot of time. Ms. Haigler stated the large park areas are 280 acres, the sports complex alone is 22 acres. The City grounds are 8 acres, and the medians and walkways are 5 miles. Mr. Benton stated that everywhere across the City there are ants, and there is not one employee designated to strictly treat the ant problem. He further asked, if the hot water machine works, how will the City be able to use that method and use it efficiently. Dedicating one employee to go around and treat ants is going to be labor intensive as well as costly, where there might be another method that does something different with less manpower and time involved. Ms. Haigler stated that there are costs involved with whatever method is chosen, and the funds to do it have a limit. Going forward there is also going to be a project to treat the waterways, and that is going to be very expensive. So there needs to be a balance. Mr. O'Neill inquired about the budget. Mr. Benton stated that roughly what is budgeted for all the services which maintain the parks, city grounds, etc. to cover pests, fertilization, and chemicals, including the splashpad, totals approximately $13,000.00. VI. Old Business — None VII. Items for Next Aaenda A. Each sub -committee member presents IPM research on assigned pests for discussion and adoption into IPM Plan INTEGRATED PEST MANAGEMENT SUB -COMMITTEE PAGE 7 MINUTES OF FEBRUARY 19, 2020 MEETING The following were assigned for research to present at the next meeting of the sub- committee: Mr. O'Neill —grubs Mr. Carrano — moles Ms. Brothers — dollar weed Dr. Cox — broad leaf weeds The following were assigned to research the balance of the items to present the research at meetings going forward: Mr. O'Neill — goose grass torpedo grass Mr. Carrano -• sedge grass pennywort Ms. Brothers •• Japanese beetles brown patch fungus Dr. Cox -• signal grass mice Mr. Benton stated at the next meeting the projector will be set up. He and the members of the committee thanked Ms. Haigler for all her hard work on this project. Mr. Benton further stated that the information that is gathered at these meetings will be put into a written plan, and he wants 100 percent agreement on what is presented to City Council. Vlll. Adiournment There being no further business, Mr. Benton adjourned the meeting at 4:15 p.m By: Date: 6/ll l�2 o dO jg