With more and more people carrying mobile devices such as smart phones and tablets, it’s important to think about how this technology can be used to educate people and improve IPM (Integrated Pest Management). The apps listed below are only some that have been designed to help foresters, horticulturalist, landscapers, gardeners, entomologists, arborists, turf specialist and so on to have more information ready at their fingertips.
Plant Diagnostic Sample Submission
is free app from Incubed available for Apple only. This Sample Submission app
allows farmers, gardeners, landscapers, arborists, agricultural specialists and
others to submit digital photo samples to a university plant diagnostic lab for
diagnosis or identification. The app contains sample submission forms for
plants ranging from small houseplants to large-scale agronomic crops. The user
completes each form by responding to simple, customized questions. After entering
a description of the problem and attaching corresponding photos the sample
submission is sent to the selected diagnostic laboratory.
Bugwood or Invasive Pest apps:
Forest Insect
Pests in North America is available for Apple and
Android. The photos present in this App are intended to help foresters, urban
landscaping employees, or others working with trees recognize some of the
common pest insects affecting trees in North America and understand their life
cycles and how they damage trees.
Great
Lakes Early Detection Network is used to Identify
and Report Invasive Plants, Animals, Insects and Plant Pathogens in the Great Lakes
region of the U.S. Available for both Apple and Android.
Invasive
Plants in Southern Forests: Identification and Management,
is available for Apple and Android. This app provides information on accurate
identification of the 56 nonnative plants and groups that are currently
invading the forests of the 13 Southern States. Basic strategies for managing
invasions on a specific site include maintaining forest vigor with minimal
disturbance, constant surveillance and treatment of new unwanted arrivals, and finally,
rehabilitation following eradication.
Midwest Invasive Species
Information Network is a free app for Apple and Android
from Michigan State University. You can play an important role in the early
detection and rapid response to new invasive threats in your area by
contributing invasive species observations to the MISIN database. This data is
then shared with an emerging network of database efforts for the tracking of
invasive threats and are used by land managers to help make informed decisions
regarding the management and impact of invasive species.
Landscape
Alternatives for Invasive Plants in the Midwest
provides recommended alternatives, both native and non-native, to common
Midwest invasive landscape ornamentals. This is a free app from Charles T.
Bargeron and the Midwest Invasive Plant Network available for Apple only.
IPM anyone?
IPM Toolkit
allows you to read news articles, view videos, download publications, and
access pictures which will aid you in adapting Integrated Pest Management (IPM)
practices to your agricultural operation. Available for Apple and Android.
IPMPro
is a product from the University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture. This is
an app tailored toward nursery and landscape pest management professionals. It
includes time-sensitive alerts for pest control and cultural practices which
adjusts to your location. View the IPM recommendations as a calendar or list.
Most information revolves around woody landscape plants but also has content on
landscape weeds. Available for Apple and Android at $24.99.
Plant or tree identification:
Audubon Guides
is a combo-pack of field guides that includes birds, mammals, wildflowers, and
trees of North America. The tree guide contains 900 native and well-adapted
trees found in North America. The wildflowers guide contains hundreds of native
forbs and grasses found in North America. This app form the Audubon Society
cost $2.99 and is available for Apple only.
Landscaper’s
Companion acts as a reference guide and plant catalog with
over 26,000 plants from around the world. This app form Stevenson Software, LLC
costs $4.99 and is available for Apple and Android.
ID Weeds
comes free from the University of Missouri Extension. ID Weeds allows you to
search for weeds by their common or latin name, view a list of weeds, or
identify weeds based upon a number of different characteristics. Details about
each weed are presented, along with photograph(s) of the weed specified.
Available for Apple and Android.
Dirr’s Tree and Shrub Finder
is Based on Michael A. Dirr's classic work, The Manual of Woody Landscape
Plants, the Tree and Shrub Finder is the most comprehensive tree and shrub
directory available, covering over 9,400 woody plants, with 7,600 high-quality
plant images. The plant database is searchable by 72 criteria, including
hardiness zones, water and light requirements, growth characteristics, flowers,
fruits, and fall colors. The app offers the latest and most reliable
information on woody landscape plants for the landscape professional and the
home gardener alike in an inexpensive and accessible format. This app comes to
you from Timber Press for $14.99, available for Apple only.
Tree Key
is a free product from the University of Wisconsin-Madison available for Apple
only. Based on the Key to Woody Plants of Wisconsin Forests, Tree Key includes
85 species of trees and 57 species of shrubs and vines. Some species are native
to Wisconsin while others are exotic and invasive. The app uses a dichotomous
key allowing the user to select between two choices to arrive at the correct
species.
Leaf
Snap
is a free app made through collaboration of Columbia University, University of
Maryland and the Smithsonian Institute. This app contains an extensive digital
photo library of trees common to the North-Eastern US. It is an electronic
field guide using visual recognition software to help identify tree species from
photographs of their leaves. Available for Apple only.
Virginia Tech Tree Identification
App contains fact sheets for 969 woody plants from all over North America with
an in-depth description, range map and thousands of color images of leaves,
flowers, fruit, twigs, bark and form.Users can narrow the species list for any
location in North America using the phone’s GPS or any entered address or zip
code. Free for both Apple and Android.
The next three apps
have all been developed by experts at Purdue University through McClure
Services LLC to help people manage problems with flowers and trees. The Tree
Doctor app cost $1.99 (Apple and Android) and the Flower Doctors only $.99 (Apple
only).
Purdue
Annual Flower Doctor has been developed to help people
better identify and manage insect, disease and environmental problems you find
on your annual bedding plants, like geraniums, petunias, and zinnias, to name
but a few of the more than 60 commonly planted annual flowers.
Purdue Perennial Flower Doctor
has been developed to help people better identify and manage insect, disease
and environmental problems you find on your herbaceous, perennial landscape
plants, from anemone to yarrow, to name but a few of the more than 100 commonly
planted perennials in the Midwest.
Purdue Tree Doctor
has been developed to help people better identify and manage tree problems
caused by a variety of factors, including insects and diseases.
Ortho Problem Solver
is from Scotts Miracle-Gro Company and comes free for Apple and Android. Ortho
is one of the largest chemical companies in the world, with a diverse number
pest control products for lawns, gardens and homes. The Ortho Solver app helps
the homeowner diagnose and prescribe treatment.
Turf apps:
Turfgrass Management - Lite
comes free from the University of Georgia – CAES for both Apple and Android.
Turfgrass Management Lite contains pictures and information for identifying
weeds, diseases, insects, and turfgrasses on which they prey.
Turfpath,
made by Turfpath, is a free app for Apple and Android. Featured within the
mobile application are pest descriptions, image galleries, and updated control
products for turfgrass management. Stephanie uses this app!
Insect Identification:
Awesome Insects is another $.99 app from Purdue University through McClure Services LLC for Apple. This app was developed to assist students of entomology in recognizing and identifying the most common insects. It contains 150 high resolution insect photographs together with their common name, order, and family identifications.
Awesome Insects is another $.99 app from Purdue University through McClure Services LLC for Apple. This app was developed to assist students of entomology in recognizing and identifying the most common insects. It contains 150 high resolution insect photographs together with their common name, order, and family identifications.
Insect Orders was developed by Lucidmobile and is for Android use. This simple identification key is designed to identify most common adult
insects (or some groups closely related to insects) to Order in Australia. The key has been designed for use by
advanced secondary students, beginning undergraduates and others
interested in entomology. A key was written the key so that students will
learn about the structure and biology of insects while identifying them.
Gardening apps:
Check out U of I
Extension Educator, Rhonda Ferree’s Pinterest board to see the latest gardening
apps for smart phones and tablets at: http://t.co/HWUJrGULtJ
Check out the
blogs about Gardening apps by U of I Extension Educator, Christopher Enroth at:
(Nick Prudomme
and Sean Mullahy – U of I Plant Clinic Student Workers)
