Are Beneficial Bugs the Key to Beat Greenhouse Pests?
A Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service entomologist is studying how a combination of beneficial insects can help control pests in greenhouses.
Erfan Vafaie, AgriLife Extension Program Specialist in Integrated Pest Management, Overton, just wrapped up the second year of a three-year study looking at the use of predatory beneficial insects – mites and wasps – to control sweet potato whiteflies in commercial settings.
Vafaie said ornamental crops, like poinsettias, are especially vulnerable to decreased marketability and ultimately loss in value from appearance of whiteflies and their feeding. Growers are often aggressively proactive with chemical spray treatments to ensure their poinsettias will meet market demands.
“They’re protective of their crop,” he says. “But the potential for using a combination of biological controls to address a suite of harmful insects instead of conventional chemical controls is something growers are interested in and want to learn more about. I think there are a number of potential benefits to using beneficial insects in commercial settings.”
Vafaie said there are many questions about pesticide efficacy, pest resistance to certain chemicals, increased pesticide applicator regulations, and the overall cost of using pesticides. Consumer trends also show they want ornamentals to have limited-to-no exposure to pesticides.
Using beneficial insects to control pests and minimize damage to crops could be an important aspect of sustainable production, he says.
Continue reading at AgriLifeToday.tamu.edu.
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