# IPM

> Integrated pest management: preventing and controlling pests by combining monitoring, prevention, cultural, biological and, as a last resort, chemical tools against set action thresholds.

- Canonical: https://genetixbay.com/knowledge/glossary/ipm.html
- Also written: integrated pest management, integrated pest and disease management, IPDM, integrated pest control
- Glossary category: Pests and diseases · Evidence: Established
- Status: Draft: awaiting expert review · Updated: 2026-10-31
- Licence: CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/), attribute "GenetixBay cannabis glossary"

IPM, integrated pest management, is a decision-making system for keeping pests and diseases below damaging levels with the least risk to people, the crop and beneficial organisms. It is not a product or a single tactic. It layers [prevention](https://genetixbay.com/knowledge/glossary/cultural-control.md), monitoring, thresholds and a ranked set of controls, with chemical options used last and chosen for selectivity.

## In practice

A cannabis IPM programme usually [looks](https://genetixbay.com/knowledge/glossary/bag-appeal.md) like this: quarantine and inspect incoming clones; sanitise rooms and tools between runs; set the environment to discourage pests and disease; scout weekly with a hand lens and [sticky traps](https://genetixbay.com/knowledge/glossary/sticky-trap.md) and keep records; release beneficial organisms preventively in veg; and decide in advance what level of pest triggers each action. Any spray happens in veg, is chosen for its [mode of action](https://genetixbay.com/knowledge/glossary/mode-of-action.md) and compatibility with the [beneficials](https://genetixbay.com/knowledge/glossary/biological-control.md) in use, and follows its label. In flower the toolkit narrows sharply, which is why IPM in cannabis is mostly about what happens before week one of flower. Check what is registered for cannabis locally.

## Don't confuse with

- **Spray schedule**: calendar spraying without monitoring; the opposite of IPM.
- **Organic growing**: a source-of-inputs standard; organic growers still need IPM.
- **Biological control**: one component of IPM, not the whole system.

## Related terms

[Scouting](https://genetixbay.com/knowledge/glossary/scouting.md), [Action threshold](https://genetixbay.com/knowledge/glossary/action-threshold.md), [Biological control](https://genetixbay.com/knowledge/glossary/biological-control.md), [Cultural control](https://genetixbay.com/knowledge/glossary/cultural-control.md), [Quarantine](https://genetixbay.com/knowledge/glossary/quarantine.md), [Sanitation](https://genetixbay.com/knowledge/glossary/sanitation.md)

## Read more

- [Sanitation and disease prevention for cannabis grows](https://genetixbay.com/knowledge/diseases/sanitation-and-prevention.md)
- [How to diagnose any cannabis plant problem](https://genetixbay.com/knowledge/diagnosis/how-to-diagnose-any-problem.md)

## Sources

1. UC IPM. Pest Notes: Spider Mites (Publication 7405). University of California ANR. https://ipm.ucanr.edu/PMG/PESTNOTES/pn7405.html
2. Michigan State University Extension. Managing greenhouse insects. https://www.canr.msu.edu/news/managing_greenhouse_insects