ALL BUGS GOOD AND BAD WEBINAR SERIES

Carroll, D. L.1; Bertagnolli, Vicky2; Davis, Timothy, PhD3
1Regional Extension Agent - Home Grounds, Gardens & Home Pests, Alabama Cooperative Extension System, Auburn, AL, 36830
2Consumer Horticulture Extension Agent/Master Gardener Coordinator, Clemson Extension, Aiken, SC, 29801
3Chatham County ANR Agent, Chatham County Extension Coordinator, Director Coastal Georgia Botanical Gardens, University of Georgia Extension, Garden City, GA, 31408

Abstract:

The All Bugs Good and Bad Webinar Series (ABGB) was developed as a community effort through the Urban IPM and Ant Pests eXtension Communities of Practice (CoP), Alabama Cooperative Extension System, the University of Georgia Extension, Texas A&M AgriLife Extension, and Clemson Cooperative Extension in 2012. For the last three years, the hour long ABGB webinars have been conducted and delivered to the public via Zoom Video Conferencing, a free video conferencing available to the public. ABGB’s target audience often lacks fundamental knowledge of pest biology and pest management. This lack of knowledge often leads to the overuse of pesticides, the use of unnecessarily dangerous pesticides and do-it-yourself remedies, and the over expenditure of time, energy, and money to manage pests. Ten webinars per calendar year on topics of general interest to homeowners, extension agents, and specialists are delivered by speakers considered experts in their field. The webinars not only give the target audience a better understanding of pest biology and available effective research-based Integrated Pest Management (IPM) practices, but also the opportunity to pose questions directly to an expert. ABGB provided continuing education units/credits (CEC/CEUs) for Master Gardeners and commercial pesticide applicators. All webinars are archived on the ABGB YouTube channel (https://www.youtube.com/user/eXFireAnts/featured). The average number of live viewers per webinar in the last three years was 147. Average views of recorded webinar in its entirety after 12 months was 1,379. Surveys are posed at the end of each webinar to live participants and at the end of the year to all viewers. Seventy-two percent of viewers learned a lot from the webinars, 23 percent of viewers learned a little, and 5 percent learned some.  Ninety-two percent of viewers planned to implement an IPM measure they had learned.  After all webinars, 66 percent reported they had implemented something they had learned from a webinar. The top 3 management practices implemented was proper identification of an insect pest before applying pesticides, proper use of fire ant baits for the effective management of fire ants, and habitat modification for pest management. 

All Accepted Posters