Development of a mechanical sexing system to improve the efficacy of an area-wide sterile insect release programme to control American serpentine leafminer (Diptera: Agromyzidae) in Canadian ornamental greenhouses.

Background: American serpentine leafminer (ASL), Liriomyza trifolii (Burgess), is a significant pest of greenhouse ornamental crops, and females damage leaf tissue with their ovipositor during feeding and oviposition. The sterile insect technique has been advocated as a non-chemical alternative to currently available control methods. In area-wide sterile insect release programmes, males act as true vectors of sterility.

How to Start with a Clean Crop: Biopesticide Dips Reduce Populations of Bemisia tabaci (Hemiptera: Aleyrodidae) on Greenhouse Poinsettia Propagative Cuttings.

(1) Global movement of propagative plant material is a major pathway for introduction of Bemisia tabaci (Hemiptera: Aleyrodidae) into poinsettia greenhouses. Starting a poinsettia crop with high pest numbers disrupts otherwise successful biological control programs and widespread resistance of B. tabaci against pesticides is limiting growers' options to control this pest; (2) This study investigated the use of several biopesticides (mineral oil, insecticidal soap, Beauveria bassiana, Isaria fumosorosea, Steinernema feltiae) and combinations of these products as immersion treatments (cutting dips) to control B.

Amblyseius swirskii in greenhouse production systems: a floricultural perspective.

The predatory mite Amblyseius swirskii Athias-Henriot is a biological control agent that has the potential to play an important role in pest management in many greenhouse crops. Most research on this predatory mite has focused on its use and efficacy in greenhouse vegetables. However, an increasing number of growers of greenhouse ornamental crops also want to adopt biological control as their primary pest management strategy and find that biological control programs developed for vegetables are not optimized for use on floricultural plants.

Demographic trends in mixed Bemisia tabaci (Hemiptera: Aleyrodidae) cryptic species populations in commercial poinsettia under biological control- and insecticide-based management.

Bemisia tabaci (Gennadius) is an economically important pest of agricultural and ornamental plants worldwide and is now widely recognized as a cryptic species complex. In North America, B. tabaci is a particularly important pest of greenhouse poinsettia.

Effectiveness of insecticide-treated and non-treated trap plants for the management of Frankliniella occidentalis (Thysanoptera: Thripidae) in greenhouse ornamentals.

The effectiveness of trap cropping as an integrated control strategy against western flower thrips, Frankliniella occidentalis (Pergande) (Thysanoptera: Thripidae), was explored in potted chrysanthemum, Dendranthema grandiflora (Tzvelev), greenhouse crops. The efficacy of flowering chrysanthemum trap plants, either treated with the insecticide spinosad or untreated, to regulate F. occidentalis populations was tested at different spatial scales (small cage, large cage and commercial greenhouse) and for different time periods (1 or 4 weeks).