March 2, 2023
Plant Acclimation Stages
This calendar is an ever-expanding database on information about life cycle events for common Missoula County plants, pests, and diseases. Below, you will find information about LEAST-TOXIC treatments (those that have the smallest impact on humans, pests, wildlife and insects, like bees and ladybugs, which benefit the garden) as well as HARD PESTICIDE treatments (those that have greater impact on humans and the environment).
Integrated Pest Management (IPM) strives to optimize plant health by:
- Managing garden and landscape soils for good drainage and aeration
- Building soil by adding organic matter and properly timed fertilizers
- Pruning and irrigating according to the needs of particular plants
- Knowing the plant's level of susceptibility to pest damage
IPM also means knowing as much about each pest as possible.
- When is the pest MOST vulnerable, infective, or invasive?
- When is the pest most vulnerable to least-toxic management strategies?
- What is the least-toxic management tool that can be used successfully?
Sunday
Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday
Saturday
26
27
28
1
2
Plant Acclimation Stages
3
4
5
Plant Acclimation StagesMarch 5, 2023
Plant Acclimation Stages
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
PruningMarch 14, 2023
Pruning
Prune Zone 4 and hardier plants any time after they have reached dormancy. Some Zone 4 plants, such as fruit trees and less hardy plants, should not be pruned until the delayed or late delayed dormancy period.15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
Disease PreventionMarch 22, 2023
Disease Prevention
If fireblight or fungal diseases existed the previous summer, consider a late delayed dormant disease preventative spray as buds start to break and day temperatures are 55°F. to 65oF. • Bordeaux Mix or Copper for bacterial and fungal pathogens (or) • Neem oil for fungal diseases. NOTE: If Bordeaux Mix is sprayed when green tissue is present, there can be injury to leaves, especially if temperatures are >65 F. and weather is humid.23
24
25
26
27
28
Insect PreventionMarch 28, 2023
Insect Prevention
If mites, aphids, scale and some leaf rollers have caused problems in the past, consider a delayed- dormant horticultural oil application (suffocates pests.) Use when temperatures are >40 F. and <65 F. Most spray oils are petroleum based but Mineral and neem oils are available.. Spray oils used during the growing season (and sometimes in the late delayed-dormant period) may injure certain beneficial predator insects and burn tender leaves.29
30
31
1
March Pest Breakdown