Kentucky's Cooperative Extension Service is co-sponsoring an Integrated Pest Management training school at the UK College of Agriculture's Research and Education Center in Princeton, Ky. The event will begin at 8:30 on March 15, 2000 and end at 3:30 p.m. the same day.

A highlight of this year's training will be a presentation by Paul Vincelli, Extension plant pathologist at UK. He will teach participants how to recognize the disease at an early development stage.

"Gray leaf spot is an emerging disease," Vincelli said. "It is a serious risk to optimal crop yields in Kentucky and all over the United States." Each participant will use a special lens to aid in identifying gray leaf spot in their fields. People growing speciality crops like white corn or popcorn may especially interested in gray leaf spot.

Vincelli will teach trainees how to recognize gray leaf spot lesions with high accuracy and also will give action thresholds for spraying fungicides to control this pest in the field.

As always, pest identification will be a major part of the training sessions. Weed, insect, and disease problems of corn, soybeans, small grains and alfalfa will be covered. An update of the pest problems in Kentucky also will be discussed.

"This training is designed to help people learn to identify their pests and problems," Patty Lucas, Extension IPM specialist at Princeton, said. "We want to teach them to time their treatments so they are the most effective and cost efficient with the chemicals they use. The annual program will feature a new session this year. For the first hour, participants will choose from two sessions: Introduction to Scouting or Advanced Scouting.

The introduction session will teach site selection and the basic techniques for scouting corn, soybeans, alfalfa, and small grains. It is designed for participants who have never scouted a field.

The advanced session assumes the participant already has some IPM training and is an experienced scout. The session will include advanced equipment for scouting and soil sampling, and information on how to decide to re-plant.

Advance registration is not required and the meeting is free of charge to the public. Every attendee with receive a set of IPM manuals and also a pocket guide for corn and sobybeans The program is accredited for 5.5 CEU's for Certified Crop Advisor: 2.0 Pest Management; 2.0 Crop Production and 1.5 Soil Fertility. For additional information, contact Patty Lucas at (270) 365-7541, ext. 218 or e-mail her at plucas@ca.uky.edu.