The 1-800-PENN-IPM Hotline

The 1-800 PENN IPM hotline provides free production-related content to growers of specialty and field & forage crops. Specialists and educators record messages as needed throughout the growing season to provide easy access to production recommendations to those who lack access to the internet.  However, all are welcome to call in.

New for 2026:

• The addition of an entire subsection dedicated to agronomic, field, and forage crops under keypress 8.  It is an extensive offering, detailed in the tables.
• The tree fruit sub-menu now offers an opportunity to register a FAX number to receive Fruit Times Alerts and other tree fruit production-related content by FAX (keypresses 6, 8).  This service is for people who lack access to the internet only.

To access the hotline, simply call 1-800 PENN IPM (1-800-736-6476) from a touch-tone landline phone or mobile device and follow the message prompts.

The recordings are designed to be short and to the point, informing callers of critical concerns worth investigating on their farms. For those familiar with the previous service in use prior to 2025, the 90-second message length limitation has been abolished, enabling Extension to offer fuller, more useful content. Messages are still brief - usually clocking in under 4 minutes.

The hotline also provides content for Spanish-speaking listeners. Messages will be translated and posted as information, and bilingual staff are available.

Tips for Using the Hotline

1. To connect to the hotline, call 1-800 PENN IPM (1-800-736-6476).
2. Press keys at any time to navigate. There is no need to wait until an entire message is played.
3. For subjects that have more specialized content, press the key associated with the primary subject first, wait for the sub-menu attendant to begin speaking, then press the key corresponding to the specialized area of interest.
4. Press the "#" key to repeat a message.
5. Press the "*" at any time to cut messages short and move one level up in the system.
6. If a line offers a "team directory" to reach a specialist or educator, selecting that option will redirect the caller to their office, exiting the PENN IPM system.

Main Menu Overview

The following table lists the options available as of 2026, the sequence of keypresses to use, and a provides a description of the message content or final destination in the case of team directories. The "#" (repeat) and "*" (move up) keypresses are omitted but active at all levels.

Table 1 provides the main menu and first level of sub-menus that are for areas that have more specialized content. The Menu Category column is the top-most level, and is what a caller will first encounter when connecting to the system. Certain disciplines—Vegetable Production, Tree Fruit Production, Field and Forage Crops, and Traducciones al idioma Español (Spanish-language Translations)—are broken out into more specialized content.

The Keypresses column provides the buttons that must be pressed to reach each line. Multiple numbers separated by commas indicate the sequence of keys to press to reach that sub-menu's content. For instance, "1,5" indicates that if the caller presses key 1, pauses for a moment, then presses key 5, they will be taken to the "Vine Crops" sub-section of the "Vegetable Production" line.

If a line is marked with a asterisk, it indicates that there is one more levels further down. The listing of those options following in Tables 2 and 3.

^* Tree Fruit Team Directory Menu

The tree fruit team directory connects callers with either the county office located in the heart of the region or an individual who covers the region. Selections made from this menu exit the PENN IPM system. As above, the keypresses are the sequence needed to go directly to the option from the main menu.

^** Field & Forage Crop Team Directory

The field & forage crops team directory has two levels. As described above, the keypresses identify the region, which takes the caller to a sub-menu where specific individuals associated with particular counties may be chosen. The keypress sequence—e.g. 8,0,3,1—represents the keypresses needed (with short pauses between them) to reach an area or individual from the main menu. When selecting an individual, all callers are transferred out of the PENN IPM system and connected directly to the selected individual's office number.