I joined the Organic Pest Management Lab in the spring of 2008.  I  initially worked as the lab technician, where I assisted Matt with running all of his research projects. I enjoyed working with Michigan growers and researchers towards the goal of  improving sustainable agriculture so much that I decided to pursue my graduate degree in the field. My current work focuses on reintegrating livestock into organic fruit orchards for the purpose of insect and weed management. I have mostly been investigating the use of hogs to eat dropped fruit containing insect pest larvae at different times in the growing season. Hogs have the potential to impact the populations of key pests such as Codling Moth, Plum curculio, and Oriental Fruit Moth. I soon hope to begin looking into the services miniature sheep can provide for organic fruit growers as well.

Curriculum Vitae

Selected Posters and Presentations (click on the title to download)

Poster:  Krista Buehrer and Matthew Grieshop. 2011. “Bringing home the bacon: flash-grazing hogs for post-harvest organic orchard floor management.” (PDF)

Presentation: Krista Buehrer and Matthew Grieshop. 2010. “Post-harvest clean up crew: flash grazed hogs in organic fruit orchards.” (PowerPoint) Presented at the Great Lakes Fruit, Vegetable and Farm Market Expo. Grand Rapids, MI. December 09.

Poster: Ron Perry, Matthew Grieshop, and Krista Buehrer. 2010. “Implementation of strip cultivation in Michigan apple orchards: first year results.” (PDF)

Poster: Matthew Grieshop, Krista Buehrer, Annemiek Schilder, and Rufus Isaacs. 2008. “Friend or foe: blueberry pollinators as mummy berry vectors.” (PDF)

Grants

Krista Buehrer and Matthew Grieshop. “Potential of organic hogs as a tool for post-harvest orchard floor sanitation and pest management.” Sponsored by CERES Trust. $9,789. June 2010 – June 2011.

Video

Insect Righting Behavior -this video was made for ENT 815: Insect Behavior

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nPa-lWvU19g [/youtube]

As an undergraduate, I attended Kalamazoo College in Kalamazoo Michigan, where I earned a bachelor of arts in Biology with a concentration in Environmental Studies.  This program included coursework in environmental economics, ecology, and history.  Also while enrolled at Kalamazoo I participated in a 6 month study abroad program at the Universidad San Francisco de Quito in Cumbaya Ecuador.  While in Ecuador, I studied tropical ecology, botany, and conservation.  After competing my coursework at Kalamazoo, I was awarded a Beeler Fellowship for student projects abroad, which provided funding for a return trip to Ecuador where I completed a Senior Individualized Project (SIP) in Biology.  During the four years that I attended Kalamazoo College I worked for their recycling department and worked on a project that used earthworms to compost waste from student housing.

I began my graduate study in the Berry Crops Entomology Lab at Michigan State University where I earned a Master of Science degree in Entomology.  My graduate coursework has included Biological Control of Insect and Weeds as well as Insect Ecology, Evolution, and Conservation.  In the Berry Crops Entomology Lab, I researched the impacts of native wildflower plantings on pollinators and other beneficial insects in blueberry fields.  I presented the results of this research at grower meetings as well as professional conferences and in 2008 my poster was the runner-up in the Entomological Society of America’s competition for the President’s Prize.  I was also awarded the Paul Wooley Award for outstanding achievement in a Master’s program from the Entomology Department at MSU.  This work was partially funded by a USDA Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Graduate Student Grant.

I am currently a graduate research assistant in the Organic Pest Management Lab at Michigan State University where I am working on biological control of codling moth in organic apple orchards. I also work part-time as a teaching assistant for ISB201L (Insects, Globalization, and Sustainability Laboratory).

Here is a link to my CV.

C.V. (Click Link to Download PDF)

Selected Publications (Click Link to Download PDF)

• Epstein D.L., Miller J.R., Grieshop M.J., Stelinski L.L., and Gut L.J.. 2011. Direct Sampling of Resting Codling Moth (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae) Adults in Apple Tree Canopies and Surrounding Habitats. Environmental Entomology 40(3):661–668.
• Epstein D.L., Stelinski L.L., Miller J.R., Grieshop M.J., and Gut L.J. 2011. Effects of reservoir dispenser height on efficacy of mating disruption of codling moth (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae) in apple. Pest management science: 67 975-979
• Teixeira L.A.F, Grieshop M.J., and Gut L.J. 2010. Effect of Pheromone Dispenser Density on Timing and Duration of Approaches by Peachtree Borer. J Chem Ecol 36(10):1148-1154.
• Grieshop, M.J., J. Brunner, V. Jones, N. Bello. 2010. Recapture of Codling Moth Males: Influence of Lure Type and Pheromone Background. J. Econ. Ent.103(4):1242-1249.
• Grieshop M.J., Flinn P.W., and Nechols J.R. 2010. Effects of intra-and interpatch host density on egg parasitism by three species of trichogramma. J. Insect. Sci. (Online) 10:99.
• Miller, J.R., P.S. McGhee, P.Y. Siegert, C.G. Adams, M.J. Grieshop, L.J. Gut. 2010. Kinetics of attraction and competitive attraction: principles for interpreting catches by traps and optimizing insect mating disruption. Proc. of the Nat. Acad. Sci. 107: 22-27.
• Bird, George W., Grieshop, M.J., Hepperly, P., Moyer, J. 2009. Climbing Mt. Organic: An Ecosystem Approach to Pest Management. In Organic Farming: The Ecological System, ed. Charles Francis, Madison, WI: American Society of Agronomy.
• Grieshop, M.J., P.W. Flinn, J.R. Nechols . 2008. Effects of fine-grain habitat complexity on egg parasitism by three species of Trichogramma. Biol. Cont. 45: 328-336.
• Stelinski, L.L., P. McGhee, M. Grieshop, J. Brunner, and L.J. Gut. 2008. Efficacy and mode of action of female-equivalent dispensers of pheromone for mating disruption of codling moth, Cydia pomonella (L.). Agr. and Forest Ent. 10: 389-397.
• Grieshop, M.J., Flinn, P.W., Nechols, J.R., Campbell, J.F. (2008). Effects of fine-grain habitat complexity on egg parasitism by three species of Trichogramma. Biological Control 45, 328-336.Grieshop_Tricho_Fine
• Grieshop, M.J., Flinn, P.W., Nechols, J.R., Campbell, J.F. (2006). Effects of shelf architecture and parasitoid release height on biological control of Plodia interpunctella (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae) eggs by Trichogramma deion (Hymenoptera: Trichogrammatidae). Journal of Economic Entomology 99 (6), 2202-2209.
• Grieshop, M.J., Flinn, P.W., Nechols, J.R., (2006). Biological control of Indianmeal Moth (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae) on finished stored products using egg and larval parasitoids. Journal of Economic Entomology 99 (4), 1080-1084.
• Nansen, C., Weaver, D.K., Sing, S.E., Runyon, J.B., Morrill, W.L., Grieshop, M.J., Shannon, C.L., Johnson, M.L. (2005). Within-field spatial distribution of Cephus cinctus (Hymenoptera: Cephidae) larvae in Montana wheat fields. Canadian Entomologist 137, 202-214.
• Grieshop, M.J., Nowierski, R.M. (2002). Selected factors affecting seedling recruitment of Dalmatian toadflax. Journal of Range Management 55 (6), 612-619.

Selected Posters and Presentations (Click Link to Download PDF)

• Friend or Foe?
• Hog Presentation
• Further Insights into Codling Moth Mating Disruption
• Improving Codling Moth Mating Disruption Using New Technology
• Biological Control of the Indianmeal Moth Using Egg and Larval Parasitoids

OPM Lab Circa 2012

The OPM lab at Michigan State is lead by Dr. Matt Grieshop.   Additional laboratory personnel include Emily Pochubay (Technician), Krista Buehrer (PhD Student), Nate Walton (PhD Student), John Pote (MS student), Bradley Baughman (MS student), and Joe Riddle (MS student). Our work takes us all over the great state of Michigan so not everyone made it into the photo. Individual webpages can be accessed under the personnel tab.

Are you interested in joining the OPM team? We typically hire 2-3 undergraduate assistants in April and are always looking for talented graduate students. Contact Matt Grieshop for more information.

Organic and conventional farmers need alternative strategies for dealing with this pathogen due to restrictions on fungicides and resistance development in some areas. In order to develop new strategies, we need to completely understand the pathogen’s cycle. Pollinators have been shown to transport secondary spores from shoot strikes to flowers, but how large of a role they play is unclear. Thus, we have set out to determine what insects could be transporting spores using a camera system to observe insect behavior in the field.

We are conducting this research along with MSU plant pathologist, Annemieke Schilder.

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Our work in this area is funded by a EPA PRIA2 project titled: “Demonstration of strip cultivation to reduce herbicide use in north central and northeastern perennial fruit production.” We are presently in the second year of the project. Brad Baughman is the M.S. student leading this project and is working in both apples and wine grapes. More information on this project can be seen in our project posts below.

Video camera focused on pheormone dispenser

Mating disruption is the addition of synthetic sex pheromone to croplands in order to prevent male pest’s from locating females. Mating disruption has become an increasingly important pest management strategy in organic agriculture. Although the technique may be widely used in fruit crops, the mechanisms by which it functions are difficult to elucidate, and may vary from species to species.Three commonly proposed mechanisms of mating disruption are: 1) camouflage; where the synthetic pheromone masks the distinct pheromone plume of a female, 2) false trail following; where the males waste time and energy following false plumes of synthetic pheromone, and 3) habituation/attenuation; where males are physiologically rendered unable to follow plumes after contact with synthetic pheromone.

We are working  with leading mating disruption researchers, Larry Gut and Jim Miller to address some of these questions. Specifically we are using our field video camera systems to investigate the behavior of a variety of fruit pests to gain insight into species specific behaviors. Species of interest are codling moth, Oriental fruit moth, grape berry moth, lesser peachtree borer, and dogwood borer.

In addition to the pest management benefits of rotational grazing of hogs we are also exploring the economics of the system and are seeking to begin assessing potential animal welfare benefits, meat quality, and  food safety aspects of hogs and animal manures in apple orchards. This research is being conducted in collaboration with MSU researchers Dave Epstein, Dale Rozeboom, and George Sundin. Preliminary funding has been supplied by the USDA OREI program, the North Central IPM Center and the Michigan Agricultural Experiment Station.

Apple Hog Integration

Mummy Berry

Mating Disruption

Insect Predation

Cover Cropping

OPM Field Truck

The Organic Pest Management Lab maintains an extension program focused on integrating research and extension efforts. Approximately 90% of the research conducted by the lab is done on grower/collaborator fields. Specific extension events will be posted as they arise.