At the heart of the job of managing people is the imperative (and opportunity) to create the environment within which the team does its work. The best managers know that the informal rules around how people should work make a substantial difference to what people do and what they pay attention to, and they seek to shape that in a way that maximizes success.
Here, excerpted from my book The Self-Determined Manager, are eight things the best managers know and consistently do.
Great managers understand that shaping the environment is their job. Great managers are clear about the impact they have on the team environment. They recognize this is not accidental, that team culture is not random. They understand that it’s their job to create the environment for the team, and they can choose the type of environment they create.
They understand the power of amplification—it’s in the structure of the job. By virtue of being a manager, your words and actions are amplified. Every pronouncement you make may be repeated, every action emulated and every expectation reflected in the work of your team.
They deliberately choose the environment they hope to create. This process is active and deliberate. Different managers choose different themes for the environment they create.
My checklist for the best kind of environment to create is as follows:
Positive. Help the team keep a positive view on what they are doing and why.
Purposeful. Know what it is all for; this makes the work and effort worthwhile.
Ambitious. Have something to work for and toward.
Supportive. Create a supportive environment.
Professional. Help the team do the best possible job, in the right way.
Honest. Be honest with each other about what’s good and bad, what’s working and what isn’t.
Grown-up. Avoid bullying, inappropriate aggression, shouting, patronizing, condescending, game-playing, name-calling, belittling, and playing favorite.
They create environments that get the best from people. The best managers are gifted at creating for their people a sense of self-confidence and accomplishment that gives them a platform, and from this platform of self-belief and achievement comes more success and greater performance. The trick is that the manager is always looking for the next thing for their people, the next challenge or the new skill, which will move them ahead a little.
They catalyze greater achievement and performance from individuals than they realized they were capable of. They see that their people must be achieving and overachieving on their own in order to create greatness for the team, and they know that the way to get to this state is to build an environment where their people do better and do more than they expected or understood they could.
The self-determined manager offers a simple deal—personal and professional growth in return for great attitude and effort. The greatest managers want their people to achieve and do more because it builds their self-respect and career, ensures their employability, and helps with their sense of satisfaction and mastery. Fundamentally, it is the right thing to offer an employee, the chance to learn more and achieve more as a result of working for you.
They are fueled by a passion to make other people successful (although there are some strings attached). The strings? You must expect individuals to live up to the opportunity that comes with working for a self-determined manager. Your people must be as self-motivated as you are, and must take responsibility to perform, deliver, learn, grow, and to have an impact and make a difference.
They create environments where “right” is clear. In a pressure-filled work environment, the best managers make choices about whether to push their people harder, or adapt the task to make it achievable, or use shortcuts to achieve an all-important endpoint. When making these choices, they are consistent in application of their core values. They never stray from doing the right thing. This means honesty is never compromised, false promises are never made, people are never deliberately harmed, client trust is never abused, and customers are never misled.
When you become a self-determined manager, everyone in the company benefits and the workplace becomes harmonious. Employees feel supported and incentivized to work hard, you feel satisfaction that you’re making a difference, and your higher-ups are delighted by your and your team’s efforts to help the company thrive.
David Deacon is the author of The Self-Determined Manager: A Manifesto for Exceptional People Managers. He has been a human resources professional for 30+ years and has worked for some of the world's leading companies, including Credit Suisse and MasterCard. www.selfdeterminedmanager.com
Cydalima perspectalis
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The destructive box tree moth was recently discovered in Canada, and North American growers are urged to help stop the spread of this pest.
Native to Asia, Cydalima perspectalis (box tree moth) is an invasive pest currently causing severe damage to Buxus spp. in Europe. In November 2018, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency confirmed the presence of box tree moth in an urban neighborhood in Toronto.
This is the first detection of this pest in North America.
The box tree moth was detected in Germany and the Netherlands around 2006 and is believed to have arrived in Europe with a shipment of boxwood plants from Asia. It is now found in up to 30 European countries.
In November 2018, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency confirmed the presence of box tree moth in an urban neighborhood in Toronto.
Photo by Didier Descouens
Damage
Damage to boxwood is caused by the larvae feeding primarily on leaves and sometimes on the bark. Infested plants are disfigured by the loss of leaves and by the webbing spun by the larvae. Younger larvae feed by eating the lower surfaces of the leaves only. Older larvae feed inside the webbing and skeletonize the leaves, leaving only the midribs, and occasionally the outer margin intact. Presence of webbing, frass and molted black head capsules may also be apparent in and around infested plants.
Boxwood can survive defoliation as long as the caterpillars do not eat bark on the main stems. Once this happens, boxwood lose ability to obtain necessary nutrients and water, while becoming more susceptible to fungal and bacterial infections.
Larvae feeding primarily on leaves and sometimes on the bark.
Photo by Boehringer Friedrich
Identification
Eggs, which are laid in clusters, are greenish yellow when first laid. Black dots start to show as the larval head capsule is forming. Eggs hatch in about three days.
On hatching, larvae are greenish yellow with a shiny black head. As they mature, they become more greenish and develop a striking pattern of thick black and thin white stripes along the length of the body.
Mature larvae (about ½-inch long) pupate in a cocoon of white webbing spun among the leaves and twigs of the host. They are always hidden and rarely visible in the field.
Adults are medium-sized moths with a wing span of about 1½ inches with white wings and a thick dark brown border. A less common color variant has brown wings with small white streak on the forewing. Adult moths live about 14 days and are good flyers.
C. perspectalis can survive in areas where the minimum winter temperature is about -22°F. It overwinters in the larval stage in a silken cocoon spun between host leaves.
Boxwood can survive defoliation as long as the caterpillars do not eat bark on the main stems. Once this happens, boxwood lose ability to obtain necessary nutrients and water, while becoming more susceptible to fungal and bacterial infections.
Photo courtesy of SINP
Control
No natural predators exist in the EU. Not even birds and other animals will eat the caterpillars because they contain toxins. Controls are available, including pheromone traps, pyrethroids, chlorantraniliprole, and Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) products. The Horticultural Research Institute urges the industry to be vigilant in scouting and report any suspicious-looking boxwood damage.
Sources: Canadian Food Inspection Agency, North American Plant Protection Organization, Horticultural Research Institute
A closer look
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A solid scouting program assures that pesticides are applied at the proper life-cycle stage.
Scouting takes skill. Make sure your staff is trained properly.
Photo courtesy of University of Vermont
Scouting for nursery and greenhouse pests takes skill and time. It’s a critical piece of any integrated pest management program. By scouting, growers detect insects and mites while the population is small. Researchers have discovered there are established economic and environmental benefits from scouting nursery crops, such as saving production costs and labor hours.
If your operation is seeing more than average pest pressures in any given growing season, make sure your scouting techniques are polished and you’re giving crews the proper training.
Scouting begins before a crop enters your operation. If you’re propagating, evaluate the entire greenhouse one month prior to the introduction of a crop. Look at weeds in and around greenhouses and hoop houses, drainage problems, algae build-up, overwintered plants and debris under benches. Crops growing in adjacent greenhouses or outdoors should be recorded. When a crop arrives, scouts should inspect one-third or more of the plants.
Section off your production area into manageable portions based on location, size and crop or variety and scout them separately. It is more practical to deal with blocks that are 10 acres or smaller and contain plants of the same variety, age and spacing. Walk a transect when scouting to ensure you view plants from the edge and inner portion of the block. Common transects are walking in an X or a W pattern to cover the whole field. Change the path you walk each time you scout to inspect new areas. Re-examine hotpots where you have historically encountered high pest pressure. Scouting weekly is recommended. If degree day tools or biological information is available to predict the emergence or arrival of certain pests, use them to gauge when you might scout more intensively.
One of the greatest allies a grower can use to be an effective scout and pest manager is historical and forecast weather data. Degree day models are available for many pests and can be tracked using locally accurate degree day information. Some models even use forecast data to estimate when important events, such as egg hatch, adult flight or spore release, will occur. This information can inform you of when to intensify your scouting for certain pests and disease, when to apply a pesticide to optimize treatment and when the ideal conditions might occur to apply a spray. Check with your local extension office for degree day models or visit http://uspest.org for a custom degree-day mapping calculator for 48 U.S. states.
Sticky cards are an important tool in an integrated pest management program.
Photo by Raymond Cloyd
Sticky cards and traps
Sticky cards should be in your IPM toolbox for pest detection. Blue cards may be more attractive to thrips (and even shore flies), but it’s more difficult to see thrips against the blue background. Yellow sticky cards are used to detect infestations of adult flying insects. Attach each card to a stake with a clothes pin. Another option is to glue two clothespins back-to-back. Attach one end of the clothespin to a stake and clip the card to the other clothespin. This will allow you to move the card upward as the plant matures. For general monitoring, attach sticky cards vertically just above the plant canopy. For fungus gnats, place cards horizontally just above the soil surface or lay them flat on rims of pots. Aphids and thrips tend to be caught on the bottom half of the traps. Leafminers are caught more often along the top, and leafminer wasps and whiteflies tend to be spread uniformly over the trap. Aphids tend to be caught in the middle vertical columns. Since insects are not distributed evenly horizontally across the trap, columns counted should be vertical towards the middle of the trap.
Scouts should keep detailed records of pests detected, the counts, and any unusual circumstances found throughout production areas.
Photo by Steven D. Frank
In greenhouse production, each yellow sticky card should be numbered and placed at the minimum rate of one card per 1,000 square feet. Space the cards equally throughout the entire range in a grid pattern. Place cards near all entryways and vents. Small greenhouses (less than 4,000 square feet) can be scouted as one unit. Larger greenhouses should be divided into 2,000- to 3,000-square-foot sections. Change the cards weekly and place new cards in the same areas of the production area to track pest trends.
In outdoor production, traps should be hung at 4-6 feet above ground level in the nursery but can be placed at the office or other convenient location nearby. Traps can also be hung from limbs of trees in the nursery if duct tape or another protective coating is used to prevent bark damage.
Use one trap per insect species. Traps for different insect species should not be placed close to one another; place them at least 30 feet apart. To prevent cross-contamination when placing lures for more than one species, do not handle lures. The compounds in pheromone lures can penetrate many substances. Use disposable gloves, disposable forceps or shake lure out of the packaging onto the trap. Trap results can vary with location and microclimate; therefore, it is best to place more than one trap for a given pest in the nursery. Use at least one trap per 20 acres per insect species. Store extra lures sealed in the refrigerator or freezer. Replace lures during the season according to manufacturer’s recommendations.
Scouts monitor pest development, such as twospotted spider mites, so pesticide applications are appropriately timed.
Photo courtesy of CSIRO
Monitoring and keeping records
Begin inspections at the bottom of the plant and proceed upward, from older leaves to younger leaves to new growth. Special attention should be paid to buds and blooms. Pots should be tipped sideways for inspection of the underside of the leaves where many pests reside. Root examinations should be performed on crops that are highly susceptible to root disease by inverting and removing the pot.
Identify and record pest numbers in a notebook. Compile weekly summaries and itemize information for each greenhouse, hoop house or nursery bed according to the pests detected, the counts, and any unusual circumstances found.
Detailed records of any pesticide application should be kept to compare with previous records to see if fewer applications have been made or if a less toxic chemical has been substituted. These records should include the following information:
Date of spray application.
Name, classification, amount of active ingredient, and registration number.
Amount of material and water mixed for the application.
How much of the pesticide was applied.
Where the pesticide was applied.
Square feet or number of pots treated.
Type of application method (wet spray, fog, etc.).
Applicator’s name.
Labor hours.
Over time, population trends will emerge and provide direction for your pest management program.
Consult and follow pesticide labels for registered uses. If any information is inconsistent with the label, follow the label. UConn Extension does not guarantee or warrant the standard of any product referenced or imply approval of the product to the exclusion of others which also may be available. UConn Extension, UMass Extension, OSU Extension, Michigan State University, and the University of Tennessee Extension are not endorsing any product or company.
Safety first
Supplement - State of the market: Insect control report
Ensure that safety, security and environmental impact are all considered when storing pesticides.
Proper pesticide storage can prevent accidents that could cause property or environmental damage. Check with local regulators for the requirements in your state.
A well-designed storage facility has four components:
A storage cabinet, room or building
A mixing area
An area for loading and rinsing spray equipment
A place to store and secure equipment and records, including MSDS and an emergency response plan
Storage
The best location for storage is in an area that isolates chemical fumes and dust from employees. This is often a separate building protected from flooding and the potential of fire from other buildings. Some states have regulations that restrict the distance the storage is located from surface water, public water supply, private wells and farm buildings. If a storage cabinet or room is located in the headhouse, place it away from the office and work areas. Place it along an outside wall so ventilation can be provided.
For small quantities, a steel cabinet is all you need, and it should have a containment area in the bottom to catch any spills or leaks.
For larger quantities, a storage locker is a good choice. These are waterproof structures that can be located either inside or outside. Most are made in a modular size so they can be expanded. They also have floor containment and a ramp for access.
Cabinets and lockers can be purchased as fire-rated or non-fire-rated units. Before making a purchase, review Material Safety Data Sheets to determine if the stored pesticides are flammable. If so, the storage cabinet should be UL-rated or Factory Mutual System approved. This will lower insurance costs.
Environment control
Pesticides should be stored between 40° and 90° F. A small electric heater with a thermostat and fan works well to maintain the temperature above freezing in a small unit. A hot-air furnace may be needed in a larger facility.
Good ventilation removes excess heat, chemical vapors and moisture from the storage area. Install a two-speed fan, ducted to the outside. Operation at a continuous low-speed rate of about one room volume change per hour helps prevent a buildup of toxic fumes. The higher rate (about six air changes per hour) can be activated together with the light switch when the area is occupied.
A motorized intake shutter about 1.5 times the fan area should be installed in the wall opposite the fan. It should open when the fan turns on. A relay that turns off the furnace when the fan is on should be installed.
Mixing and loading
Locate the mixing area near where the pesticides are stored. If it is inside the headhouse, provide an isolated room with ventilation. The mixing area should contain a work surface with measuring equipment. A water supply and sink are needed for chemical preparation and clean-up. Install a fume hood over the mixing table to draw fumes away from the person preparing the spray material.
The base of the loading area is usually constructed of concrete with a watertight surface impervious to chemicals. A surface coating of epoxy is used to seal the concrete. A berm around the base should be installed to provide containment and provide a volume of 110 percent of the capacity of the largest sprayer.
A sump should be installed in one corner to collect any spilled material. The liquid can be pumped to a storage tank for use in subsequent applications. Portable containment pads made of vinyl or nylon-reinforced elastomer are available. They should be placed on a level surface while filling or cleaning equipment.
A drench shower and eye wash should be nearby.
A pesticide spill kit with absorbent mats, pillows, granular absorbent, hydrated lime, sodium hypochlorite and a drum patch kit should be on hand for small spills. A broom, shovel, squeegee, plastic pails and bags will help in cleanup.
John Bartok Jr. is faculty emeritus, University of Connecticut, Department of Natural Resources Management and Engineering, jbartok@rcn.com
Biocontrol basics
Supplement - State of the market: Insect control report
Before adding biocontrol agents to your IPM program, make sure you’re asking the right questions of potential suppliers.
Nursery Management spoke to Dr. Norman C. Leppla, professor and program director, IPM at the University of Florida’s Entomology and Nematology Department about questions to ponder when considering biocontrol options.
Nursery Management: What is the one of the main points that growers should consider before beginning a biocontrol program?
Norman Leppla: Choosing a well-established supplier with a solid track record of serving customers is of utmost importance. Excellent customer service will be key as you begin and go through a biocontrol program. A good supplier will make sure you’re using their products appropriately. They’ll be upfront about availability and cost. And they’ll provide descriptions of target pests and their biology, as well as recommendations for applying and evaluating their products. They should provide the habitats and seasons in which the pests are encountered, developmental stages that are susceptible to parasitism or predation and relevant behavior of the natural enemies.
NM: What is the first step when considering or adopting a biocontrol program?
NL: The first step is commitment and trying it one season is not enough. That’s another reason you need good-quality customer service from your suppliers. You must commit to a different system that involves cultural practices; sanitation (you must control the movement of things in and out of the greenhouse, including people); scouting; and being very careful of the source of your plants. You must commit to a system that’s biologically based and integrated.
NM: What are some common mistakes that growers make when adopting a biocontrol program?
NL: There are two mistakes that often occur – growers only conduct short-term trials. Like I said, trying it only one season is not enough. The other is when a grower takes the DIY approach and doesn’t enlist the help and expertise of their suppliers or when they try to rear their own natural enemies. I know a few growers who rear their own natural enemies, but it takes time to gain the experience.
Another common mistake is when a grower thinks of biocontrol as the same system as chemical control. They may think they’ll just remove the chemical and just add the biological, which is not the case whatsoever.
NM: Once a grower receives natural enemies from a supplier, what should they do first?
NL: Sometimes temperature extremes or other problems occur during shipping, so growers should open packages immediately to detect any potential issues and to provide a more hospitable environment for the natural enemies. Look for condensation or a fermenting smell, and the number of living and dead organisms should be estimated.
The University of Florida IFAS Extension produced a publication that offers guidelines for purchasing natural enemies and biopesticides. (edis.ifas.ufl.edu/in849). And there’s a publication out of Canada written by Vineland Research and Innovation Centre that helps growers evaluate the natural enemies they purchase. (bit.ly/biocontrol_products).
NM: What else would you like growers to understand about biocontrol programs?
NL: First, it works. It’s not a myth or something for odd characters. It’s mainstream and it can work for you. In an IPM program, there are times and a place when you need to use a chemical intervention. I’m not opposed to pesticides at all but be aware of their impact on natural enemies.
There are market advantages to using biocontrol including health benefits, no regulatory concerns, and, in the long run, it can be a whole lot easier and less expensive.
John Bartok Jr.
