ASHS 2025 Conference

Residential landscape pest management presents many challenges and pesticide management is accomplished via use of synthetic pesticide rotations. As consumer concerns related to pesticide use and the environment rise, landscapers have the opportunity to offer an integrated pest management (IPM) approach, using a combination of chemical and non-chemical control methods to reduce pesticide usage and reliance. However, consumer acceptance of and understanding of IPM is still not fully understood. We surveyed 1,000 respondents to quantify consumer knowledge of IPM. Questions were vetted using the Delphi method with nine industry and academic experts. Over 75% of respondents had some knowledge or were very knowledgeable of IPM. The more educated the respondents, the more knowledgeable they were of IPM. To capitalize on this to enhance economic outcomes for landscape service providers, future research should quantify how much consumers are willing to pay for IPM-grown plants or landscape services.