IPM ON STRAWBERRIES IN GLASSHOUSES AND PLASTIC TUNNELS IN BELGIUM, NEW POSSIBILITIES

Integrated Pest Management with the use of selective compounds and the artificial introduction of beneficials has been a success over the last years on vegetables in glasshouses in Belgium and The Netherlands.
Although the key parasites of vegetables, mainly thrips, white fly and spider mite, are the same as in strawberries and small fruits, integrated control with beneficials and selective compounds was almost non-existent in Belgium and The Netherlands in the latter crops.

Therefore, large scale trials were carried out by the company BIOBEST NV. and the Experimental Station for Soft Fruits in Tongeren in a glasshouse, comparing broad spectrum chemical treatments with an integrated approach, using selective compounds and several new species of beneficial insects and predatory mites.
Thrips was controlled by Amblyseius cucumeris and Orius insidiosus. Amblyseius californicus and Therodiplosis persicae, a predatory midge, were introduced against spider mites.
Aphids were successfully kept under an economic damaging threshold by Aphelinus abdominalis, Aphidius matricariae and Aphidius ervi, three species of hymenoptera, and Hippodamia convergens, a coccinellid.
The results were excellent.

III International Strawberry Symposium

G. Sterk, P. Meesters

Fragaria x ananassa, strawberry, integrated pest management, biological control

https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.1997.439.148