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>> Traditionally, pests have been dealt with
by spraying pesticide.
And that's certainly an effective way to deal
with them, but it's kind of like a nuclear
assault.
>> You're actually killing beneficial insects.
So, you're messing up this symbiotic relationship
that naturally occurs in nature.
>> They can be really dangerous to people,
especially when we're in this setting where
there's so many students come in every day.
There's research going on in all these greenhouses.
>> Using biocontrols is really satisfying
because it is working with a natural system
instead of against it.
Biological pest control is using good bugs
to battle bad bugs.
And in some cases, it's as simple as purchasing
the right bug and releasing it at the right
place and the right time.
And they will either use the pest organism
in the greenhouse as prey and eat it or they
will use it to complete their lifecycle and
in the process of that they will kill the
pest organism.
And they look very much like spider mites,
but they're predators on spider mites.
When I got this grant, that provided a little
bit of funding for me to have two interns
dedicated to biocontrol each semester.
So, all is well.
So, dump those--their job is to scout the
greenhouses for the presence of pests.
And they go out and look around to see what
pest problems we have in the greenhouse.
And we keep some notes about what pests are
where and then we use that information to
determine what biocontrol organisms to order.
But down amongst them, there are these little
orange maggots.
We basically go out as a team and deploy those
biocontrol organisms where they need to go.
Hang the cards, release the wasps, dump the
predatory mites on to the plants.
>> Basically we know where our pests are already,
so we will implement them weekly in the same
areas.
But it's nice to monitor in the morning because
we can actually see our progress developing.
The biocontrols have actually been a big help
in this greenhouse.
>> When you're sprinkling this media everywhere,
it's just like saw dust.
It becomes almost mundane, which is like kind
of bizarre that this, like, incredible process
has become this mundane chore that I do at
work.
>> When I started doing this, I realized that
the students really were interested in using
biocontrols.
I mean, for example, the parasitoid wasps
that lay their eggs in those aphids and then
the maggot grows in the aphid and then pops
out.
It's like the movie "Alien," right?
That's what everyone thinks of.
And that's pretty attractive to students.
But we permit these barley plants to become
completely infected with aphids.
>> My first or second day on the job, Scott
took me on a walk around and he showed me
the parasitized aphid, which we call a mummy.
And I just thought that was the coolest thing
ever.
So, when he recommended me for the biocontrol
apprenticeship, I took it right away.
>> The thing that I really like about my job
is that I come here and it's, like, something
new every day.
I get to interact with different kinds of
people, which I think is really relevant for
the type of things that I want to do with
my life.
And kind of get an inside look on how all
these people operate in the context of this
sustainable environment.
So, it's really interesting to see how people
are excited about it and how people want to
be involved in it and how they actually execute
it.
>> The number of pesticide applications that
I'm making now is significantly less than
before.
I think we can continue to reduce the amount
of pesticides we're using to a certain extent,
although in some cases, pesticides are required
for the research.
We have a really awesome teaching operation
in the College of Ag here.
And a lot of plant science classes have greenhouse
components, so there are actually students
growing plants in the greenhouse.
I want to reduce or eliminate pesticide applications
on these teaching crops, so that students
will not be exposed to pesticide residues
when they're coming in contact with their
crops during class work.
