Photo by Adelyn Photography
Karin Tifft said what causes most IPDM programs to fail is quick changes.
on monocotyledonous plants (i.e., cereal plants such as rye, barley and wheat). The aphids serve as a food
source for the parasitic wasp Aphidius colemani. The wasp, which reproduces on the cereal aphids, also feeds
on several common greenhouse aphids.
“The banker plants allow for more reproduction and a consistent release of the parasitoids,” she said. “There is
a lot of potential to use banker plants with other hosts and predators.”
Ensuring a successful IPDM program
Tifft said every greenhouse grower, whether vegetable or ornamental, is using some sort of pest management
platform, whether it uses chemical, cultural or biological controls. She said the thing that causes most of these
programs to fail is quick changes.
“Consider an IPDM platform like a table,” she said. “If one of the legs of the table is kicked out, as in a change
from a chemical to biological or biological to chemical platform, without putting in something to prop it up
first, such as a new scouting plan or first switching to pesticides with less residual effects on natural enemies,
the table will fall and the costs can be high. All of the changes to the platform need to be planned out. Each plan
has to be tailored to the needs of the grower, the market, the crops, the climate and state restrictions.”
Tifft said she prefers that growers looking to incorporate biological controls into their IPDM programs first do
trials in a separate greenhouse if possible.
“Ideally a grower would use a separate facility to avoid the effects of pesticide drift from another area,” she said.
“Of course, this is not always practical. There is a learning curve to using natural enemies, but IPDM when
done correctly, will save money and lead to increased yields and higher quality fruit that sell for a better price.
Reduced pesticide use also leads to fewer worker safety risks and less logistical challenges in terms of re-entry
intervals.”
For more: Karin Tifft, Greenhouse Vegetable Consultants; http://www.greenhousevegetableconsultants.com.
David Kuack is a freelance technical writer in Fort Worth, Texas; [email protected].
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