Course Goals and Outcomes

Learn how to use Integrated Pest Management (IPM) strategies on any fruit tree, anywhere, with this self-study online course.

  • Get to know the most important fruit tree pests and diseases in YOUR region.

  • Learn powerful strategies to control those problems using biological, mechanical, and cultural IPM.

  • Understand how organic fruit tree sprays work, and create your first fruit tree spray schedule.

  • Create a customized IPM workbook that helps you grow organic fruit trees successfully for years to come.

Course Benefits

Orchard People's "IPM for Fruit Trees" course is ideal for beginner and intermediate-level organic growers and includes these features and benefits:

  • Short Videos & Quizzes

    Each module includes short video lessons, quizzes, and assignments for an interactive learning experience.

  • Watch Anytime, Anywhere

    Go through the course at your own pace and take the lessons on your computer, tablet, or mobile device.

  • IPM Record Keeping

    Implement what you've learned as we guide you in creating your own IPM record keeping workbook.

  • Lifetime Access & Updates

    You will have lifetime access to this course and will enjoy unlimited course updates for free.

  • Earn Your Graduate Badge

    Earn a certificate of completion and a badge to display in your email signature, on your website, or on your LinkedIn profile.

  • Completely Risk Free

    If you don’t like what you see, we will offer you a full refund within 30 days of purchasing the course.

Course curriculum

Click the plus signs (+) below to see the lessons in each module. Each video lesson is short and snappy (less than 15 minutes) so you can watch the videos anytime, even during a coffee break!

    1. 101 Welcome! And How to Use This Course

      FREE PREVIEW
    2. 102 History of Integrated Pest Management

    3. 103 What IPM is...and What it is Not

    4. 104 Four Approaches to IPM

    5. 105 Assignment 1: Find Your Resources

    6. IPM Quiz 1 Introduction

    7. Module 1 eBook (19 pages)

    1. 201 Introduction and Worksheets

    2. 202 Cultural: Preparing the Site

    3. 203 Cultural: Good Habits

    4. IPM Quiz 2 Cultural

    5. 204 Mechanical: Using and Maintaining Traps

    6. 205 Mechanical: Traps for Pest Reduction

    7. Hands on: Make a Cherry Fruit Fly Trap and Submit Your Photo

    8. 206 Mechanical: Traps for Monitoring

    9. 207 Fruit Tree Traps eBook

    10. 208 Mechanical: Pruning, Sox and Nets

    11. IPM Quiz 3 Mechanical

    12. 209 Biological: Boosting Biodiversity

    13. 210 Cover Crops

    14. 211 Root Stock Choices

    15. IPM Quiz 4 Biological

    16. Bonus Video: City Fruit Seattle Installing Netting on a Full Sized Tree

    17. Module 2 eBook (51 pages)

    1. 301 Introduction to Entomology

    2. 302 Pest Identification Part 1

    3. 303 Pest Identification Part 2

    4. IPM Quiz 5 Pest Life Cycles

    5. 304 Pest Identification Part 3 (V2)

    6. 305 Assignment 3: Pest Profiles

    7. 306 Symptoms and Signs eBook

    8. IPM Quiz 6 Pest ID

    9. 307 Introduction to Disease

    10. 308 Types of Diseases and Assignment 4

    11. IPM Quiz 7 Disease

    12. Module 3 eBook (44 pages)

    1. 401 Introduction to Chemical IPM Module

    2. 402 What are Pesticides

    3. 403 Organic Spray Options

    4. 404 Spray Timing and Phenology

    5. IPM Quiz 8 Phenology

    6. 405 Blossom Phenology eBook and Poster

    7. 406 Spray Schedules and Assignment 5

    8. 407 Holistic Sprays

    9. 408 Susan's Dormant Spray Demonstration

    10. IPM Quiz 9 Spray Schedules

    11. 409 Growing Degree Days Part 1

    12. 410 Growing Degree Days Part 2

    13. 411 Using Your GDD Spreadsheet

    14. 412 Downloading Weather Data

    15. IPM Quiz 10 GDD

    16. 413 Pesticide Safety and Storage

    17. Module 4 eBook (53 pages)

    1. 501 Introduction to Scouting and Record Keeping

    2. 502 Inspecting Trees and Thresholds

    3. 503 Using Pest and Disease Calendars

    4. 504 Using a Journal App

    5. 505 Creating Your Scouting Kit

    6. IPM Quiz 11 Scouting and Thresholds

    7. 506 Joining a Network of Growers

    8. Module 5 IPM eBook (16 pages)

    9. Resources and Downloads

    10. What's Next?

About this course

  • $249.00
  • 63 lessons
  • 6.5 hours of video content

What are students saying about this course?

Students who are enrolled in this course come from across North America and beyond. What are they saying about the course? Find out by reading the testimonials below.

5 star rating

All about IPM

Suzanne Moncion

In my opinion, as a formally trained educator, this is an excellent course. It provides an overall view as well as covering the basics of the Integrated Pest Management approach to growing fruit trees. In each unit of the four sections, the inst...

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In my opinion, as a formally trained educator, this is an excellent course. It provides an overall view as well as covering the basics of the Integrated Pest Management approach to growing fruit trees. In each unit of the four sections, the instructor provided essential and relevant information, supported by research and always illustrated with quality slides, props, links and mini- videos. Short tests and application exercises completed the approach. In summary, the course is well-designed, well-paced, visually pleasing, practical and enjoyable. I now feel confident to proceed with IPM in the coming Spring, having acquired a solid base of knowledge and techniques. I only wished I had known earlier about the courses offered by Orchard People. Thank you Susan.

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5 star rating

I savored every module!

Michael Giamo

Sue, I loved your IPM course. I savored every module. During the course I would take pages & pages of notes, the next day off I would go into my orchard and scout problems and, boy, do I have them. My orchard is on the northeast side of a stee...

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Sue, I loved your IPM course. I savored every module. During the course I would take pages & pages of notes, the next day off I would go into my orchard and scout problems and, boy, do I have them. My orchard is on the northeast side of a steep hill. I have three tiers about 150' long x 15' (+ -) wide. The first tier has 4 rows of grapes, second has about 30 different apple trees and the third has peaches, plums, and pears. The orchard is about 10 years old. Things were pretty good up until a few years ago. Some of the apple trees were too tall and a few fell over. Most of the fruit trees have disease & pest problems. That is when I turned to the internet. I thought the "bigger the better." So first I trimmed all the trees 50% - I know that is a lot of pruning but they really needed it. Then I found Orchard People. It took me a while to start the class but when I did I loved it and hated it. Now I know my orchard has every pest, direct and indirect, fungal and bacterial. But now I have a game plan starting this winter with copper and dormant oil & in early spring from silver tip to fruit set. I made traps for peach tree borers, bought sticky traps , apple maggot balls, glue, and have my scouting kit ready for pest war. Thank you MIchael Giamo Cedar Grove, NJ

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5 star rating

Good Foundation course

Sara-Jade Woodsmith

Excellent course. Assignments encouraged exploration of local resources. I wish we had the option of downloading the slides at the end of the course (I say end because not having them right away means taking notes and absorbing the info more, bu...

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Excellent course. Assignments encouraged exploration of local resources. I wish we had the option of downloading the slides at the end of the course (I say end because not having them right away means taking notes and absorbing the info more, but I would like some cleaner/fuller ref for future refreshers).

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5 star rating

Cours complet! (Complete course!)

mélissa galipeau

Cours accessible et permet de prendre connaissance de plusieurs sources d'information. très pertinent. (Accessible course and allows you to learn about several sources of information. very relevant.)

Cours accessible et permet de prendre connaissance de plusieurs sources d'information. très pertinent. (Accessible course and allows you to learn about several sources of information. very relevant.)

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5 star rating

amazing

Lindsay Stuijfzand

Thank you for all the in-depth information and links to the OMAFRA PDF on all sprays listed for use! Also The Holistic Orchard is EXCELLENT! Right up my alley!!!!!!!! Additional Webinar link was so great!

Thank you for all the in-depth information and links to the OMAFRA PDF on all sprays listed for use! Also The Holistic Orchard is EXCELLENT! Right up my alley!!!!!!!! Additional Webinar link was so great!

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5 star rating

Highly recommend this course

Wenda Li

This course certainly expanded my arboricultural knowledge to include IPM for fruit trees (which was certainly lacking). I learned so much from learning how to calculate growing degree days to using scouting calendars. Course content was well pres...

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This course certainly expanded my arboricultural knowledge to include IPM for fruit trees (which was certainly lacking). I learned so much from learning how to calculate growing degree days to using scouting calendars. Course content was well presented, thorough and easy to understand with emphasis on how to seek out available IPM resources and how to identify and manage pest and diseases using a systematic approach (which I would have found overwhelming previous to taking this course!). I appreciate Susan's own stories of struggle and triumph when dealing with her own trees. I highly recommend this IPM course for those who want to dive deeper on how to care for their fruit trees. -Wenda Li, Elite Tree Care, Toronto

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5 star rating

Thorough and Practical

Tim Deibel

Not an "observational" course in which participants simply receive content, this class involves detailed research and development of personal resources to amplify and integrate the learning materials. The result is a useful "toolbox" - literally,...

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Not an "observational" course in which participants simply receive content, this class involves detailed research and development of personal resources to amplify and integrate the learning materials. The result is a useful "toolbox" - literally, intellectually, and experientially. Accessible, helpful, and motivating. Wonderful.

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5 star rating

Great course!

Gerri Gassert

As always, Susan has given me what I need to know in a concise format. Along with her expertise, she includes practical exercises that get you out to your trees to see what's going on. She offers outside reference links to keep you learning as w...

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As always, Susan has given me what I need to know in a concise format. Along with her expertise, she includes practical exercises that get you out to your trees to see what's going on. She offers outside reference links to keep you learning as well. I'll be signing up for any new courses she offers!

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5 star rating

IPM

Colleen Partee

course was very well put together, loads of information

course was very well put together, loads of information

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4 star rating

IPM confidence

Rena Worden

I really enjoyed learning how to use all of the different resources for my area to research pests and diseases. Even though a bunch of the resources are online, I'm not sure that I would have found them without a bit of guidance and direction. T...

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I really enjoyed learning how to use all of the different resources for my area to research pests and diseases. Even though a bunch of the resources are online, I'm not sure that I would have found them without a bit of guidance and direction. This course had so much information and I am looking forward to returning to it through the summer as issues with my fruit trees start to pop up.

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5 star rating

Awesome workshop for beginners and intermediate orchardists

Steph Roth

Another great course! Susan excels at taking the complicated aspects of growing fruit trees, and simplifying it into basic understandable principals that any size of grower can implement. I enjoyed finding some new resources to add to my collectio...

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Another great course! Susan excels at taking the complicated aspects of growing fruit trees, and simplifying it into basic understandable principals that any size of grower can implement. I enjoyed finding some new resources to add to my collection of IPM tactics, and am looking forward to starting the new season with some more diligent pest management!

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5 star rating

Learn to identify and tackle your fruit tree pest

Patrick Kilkenny

This course has provided me with a confident knowledge to look at the pests that have and will come each season and make an intelligent decision on whether to use an organic or chemical solution to combat it and best of all I have several new onli...

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This course has provided me with a confident knowledge to look at the pests that have and will come each season and make an intelligent decision on whether to use an organic or chemical solution to combat it and best of all I have several new online resources thanks to Susan to get help in photos and text to identify those darn pests. If you want to win the battle I highly suggest you take this IPM course.

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5 star rating

learning how to learn

Jeremy Gray

The IPM course is working for me. At about half way through my biggest take away thus far is how to do research. The volume of information out there is huge and I appreciate your course focuses on presenting the student with the tools to figure ou...

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The IPM course is working for me. At about half way through my biggest take away thus far is how to do research. The volume of information out there is huge and I appreciate your course focuses on presenting the student with the tools to figure out problems as they arise. For example.. referencing an insect pest to a time of year and type of damage rather than memorizing every possible bug that may cause a problem. I'm quickly catching on to the similarities in the habits of flies, moths and wasps. Much of this course is useful for IPM beyond just fruit trees.

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5 star rating

IPM

Colleen Partee

course was very well put together, loads of information

course was very well put together, loads of information

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5 star rating

Appropriate

Diana Kuzemchak

Easy to understand, Highly informative

Easy to understand, Highly informative

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Bonus eBooks

8 Beautiful Full-Colour PDF eBooks

In addition to the short, easy-to-watch videos that make up this course, we have added 8 beautifully designed eBooks that you can bring with you to the garden or orchard to review what you've learned.

Bonus Webinars

Access two, hour-long bonus entomology webinars when you complete the course.

Once you complete the course, you can access two pre-recorded webinars in which OrchardPeople.com's Susan Poizner and NaturalInsectControl.com's entomologist Stacey Hickman answer student questions on spring and summer insect pests.

Tuition

Please note that our prices are in US dollars.

Financial Need Scholarships

For Students and People Financially Affected by COVID-19

If you are a student, or if you lost your job as a result of the COVID-19 crisis, we are offering discounted tuition to this course. Just reach out to us at info (at) OrchardPeople.com for more information. We'll get through this crisis together...and fruit trees will be part of the solution!

Frequently Asked Questions

Arborist Continuing Education Credits, Lifetime Access, and More

  • I'm an ISA Certified Arborist. How many continuing education credits (CEUs) will I get if I successfully complete this course?

    Your credits depend on the type of arborist you are. Here's the rundown! BCMA Science (3.5), Practice (1.5), Management (1.75), Climber Specialist (6.75), Certified Arborist (6.75), Utility Specialist (6.75), Municipal Specialist (6.75), Aerial Lift (6.75).

  • How long will it take for me to complete this course?

    This course is made up of videos, quizzes, eBooks and assignments and it can be completed in about 8 hours. you can do it all at once, or do it at your own pace. Once you complete this course, you will have a lot of confidence in dealing with the fruit tree pests and diseases in your community.

  • How much contact will I have with my instructor?

    You will be in touch with your instructor throughout this course. You will be participating in course discussions and interacting with your instructor to ask questions and to submit your course assignments for feedback. Our goal is to ensure that you feel supported during your Integrated Pest Management learning adventure!

Your Instructor

Susan Poizner is an urban orchardist and the Director of OrchardPeople.com Fruit Tree Care Education

Susan Poizner

Director, OrchardPeople.com

Susan Poizner in an urban orchardist, fruit tree care educator and ISA Certified Arborist. She is the author of the award-winning fruit tree care book Growing Urban Orchards and the creator of the fruit tree care training website at OrchardPeople.com. Susan is also the host of The Urban Forestry Radio Show and an instructor of Fruit Production at Niagara College in Ontario. Susan lives in Toronto, Canada.

Partners

This course is brought to you by OrchardPeople.com in partnership with Solida.ca and NaturalInsectControl.com

Solida IPM Supplies, Canada
Orchard People Fruit Tree Care Education
Natural Insect Control for Organic Pest Control Options

Sign Up For Any Course or Bundle Risk Free!

Receive a full refund within 30-days of purchase

At OrchardPeople.com we want our students to be happy so you can sign up for any of our courses risk free. If you don't like the course, just tell us and we will offer you a full refund with no questions asked!