Management of insect and mite pests with predaceous mites in open-field vegetable crops
- 1. Department of Entomology and Nematology, University of Florida/IFAS Southwest Florida Research and Education Center, 2685 SR 29 North, Immokalee, FL 34142, USA. E-mail: pstansly@ufl.edu
- 2. Department of Entomology and Nematology, University of Florida/IFAS Southwest Florida Research and Education Center, 2685 SR 29 North, Immokalee, FL 34142, USA.
Description
Mites of the family Phytoseiidae (Acari) have been widely used to control vegetable pests in greenhouses, but less is known of their effectiveness in open field crops. Sweet potato whitefly Bemisia tabaci (Gennadius), broad mite Polyphagotarsonemus latus (Banks), spider mites Tetranychus evansi (Baker & Pritchard) and T. urticae (Koch), and melon thrips Thrips palmi (Karny) are serious pests that cause economic damage to many vegetables crops. Predatory mites Amblyseius swirskii Athias-Henriot and Neoseiulus californicus McGregor (Phytoseiidae) are used routinely to control these pests in greenhouse specialty crops and have shown potential in trials with open field eggplant and pepper in Florida. Here we report results from field experiments aimed at four specific objectives: (1) assess effectiveness on different host plants, (2) assess release time and the value of providing supplemental food for predaceous mites in the field, (3) compare results with mixtures of two predaceous mite species compared to rotations or single species releases, and (4) compare control obtained with predaceous mites to that of standard pesticides. All experiments were conducted on eggplant (Solanum melongena L.) with some also including zucchini squash (Cucurbita pepo L.), cantaloupe (Cucumis melo L.) or pepper (Capsicum annuum L.).
Notable reductions of target pests were observed with most treatments receiving releases of predacious mites soon after transplanting. Predacious mites persisted longer and control was more notable on eggplant, probably due to higher pest populations than on other crops tested. Although no effect on pest control was seen from pollen of Typha latifolia L. and dried fruit mite (Carpoglyphus lactis (L.)) applied as supplementary food just after planting, evidence for competitive interactions among mite species suggests its potential importance. Such competition was observed when both mites were released in a mixture although spider mite control appeared to improve when the two predators were released in succession. In contrast, broad mite and whitefly were best controlled by releases of A. swirskii alone. In general, biological control was more effective than chemical control for broad mites, comparable for spider mites but less effective for whiteflies. These results confirm earlier studies attesting to the effectiveness of these mites to control several key pests of fruiting vegetable crops while also indicating that more work is needed on the practical aspects of this strategy for open field crops.
Notes
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Stansly_etal_2018_IJE_ManagementInsectPests.pdf
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