The University of Guam’s Extension & Outreach division conducted a joint workshop session that was free to the public and offered presentations on a new virus disease of tomato plants, Integrated Pest Management (IPM) of insects and plant diseases.
Hosted by Dr. Robert Schlub on Saturday, August 06, 2016 at the College of Natural & Applied Sciences building room 127 a three hour IPM workshop session was held with 55 participants all with an interest in gaining more information on home gardening. The participants ranged from youth gardeners to the older experienced gardeners eager to discover the latest information in home garden pest management.
The workshop began with the welcoming session that included distribution of useful handouts, the latest version of the “Eggplant, Pepper, and Tomato Production Guide for Guam,” and a brief pre-test. Mr. Jim Hollyer, Associate Director of Extension & Outreach welcomed the participants with a short presentation on Extension’s role in the community and encouraged the use of the CNAS website’s information on Pest Management and all other agricultural areas. Ms. Sheeka Tareyama then followed with her presentation on a new virus disease of tomato plants and what Extension has done in response to the virus. Extension Specialist Dr. Aubrey Moore spoke on IPM and insects followed by Dr. Robert Schlub with the final presentation on IPM and plant diseases. Each presentation drew the interest of the participants to ask questions or share their experiences.
The workshop ended with a post-test and a workshop evaluation. Each participant went home with their own Season Red variety tomato, Pingtung Long variety eggplant, and Ascent variety hot pepper plant.
The workshop was beneficial to the home gardeners in more ways than one. Each participant went home with at least one of the tomato, eggplant, and hot pepper plants, all free of disease. Before the workshop the average score on the pre-test was 40%, and by the end of the workshop the post-test score average was 85%. This shows that the 55 Guam home gardeners gained more knowledge on Integrated Pest Management as a result of attending the workshop. We look forward to more workshops like this in the future and are eager to assist the participants further in their home gardening endeavors.