Mandevilla IPM Program Part 4: Putting Together a Cheaper Spray Program

**Fig. 1.** *Mandevilla plants showing minimal Parvispinus damage due to effective spray programs in Ontario. Photo by OMAFA.*

This last post in this series summarizes the strategy behind the spray program for Thrips parvispinus control in mandevilla in Ontario.

After several years of refinement to bring down costs while maintaining efficacy, several growers have been using this program, or some version of it, for several years. This program focuses on critical “spray periods” versus weekly spraying, and takes advantage of spot sprays, focusing on sensitive varieties.

That we’ve found a successful and economical program in mandevilla is quite an achievement, given the lower number of pesticide available for this pest in Canada versus the U.S., and the long growth period of the crop (July – April).

Read on for how we’ve put this all together through trial and error, and for cost comparisons to more traditional spray programs.

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Free workshops on Spotted Lanternfly in Niagara Next Week!

A version of this post was originally posted on the ONnurserycrops.com blog, written by Cassie Russell.

Landscape Ontario and OMAFA are partnering to provide two more FREE Spotted Lanternfly workshops this fall. The first will be in Niagara next week. The next will be in the Windsor area in November.

Have burning questions about SLF? Not sure how SLF may affect your green industry business or clients? Come attend the workshops.

Continue reading for details.

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Thrips parvispinus Webinar 3: Attacking Parvi from All Sides

*IPM Staff at a local greenhouse inspecting mandevilla flowers for Parvi.*

This post was written by Jessie deHaan (Research Technician, Vineland Research and Innovation Centre) and Dr. Sarah Jandricic (Greenhouse Floriculture Specialist, OMAFA).

Part 1 of the three-part webinar series on Thrips parvispinus focused on controlling incoming thrips on cuttings, while Part 2 shared the interesting behaviour and ecology that we’ve learned about Thrips parvispinus (Parvi) that could help us better manage this pest.

The final webinar is all about exploring Parvi IPM in greenhouse trials. Combining biologicals, chemical applications and other IPM interventions throughout plant production may help give you the best footing against Parvi – and other concurrent pests – while avoiding pesticide resistance.

Read on for the link to the webinar and for our written summary.

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IPM in Mandevilla: Part 3 – Reducing Costs in Early Production.

Over the past few months, I’ve posted a series on IPM in Mandevilla – now one of our more challenging crops, thanks to Thrips parvispinus!

This week I’ll be going over strategies we’ve used at a few farms to decrease costs of IPM in Mandevilla NOW, in early production, which can creep up under weekly spray programs. I’ll also be incorporating some case studies from growers, to better illustrate what’s working in the real world.

I’ve included an updated chart for IPM of Mandevilla pests in this post that is a bit cleaner. Lastly, stay tuned for Part 4, which will cover how to save money in late production.

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Going to the Canadian Greenhouse Conference in October? Check out the “Mite Murder Mystery” Workshop Wednesday Afternoon!

What is it?

Not sure what pest mites you have in your greenhouse, or which of your predators are establishing? Join us for the Mite Murder Mystery to help you identify the victim and the perpetrator!

You’ll learn different sampling methods for mites and how to identify important mites in Canadian greenhouses using a simple illustrated key. We’ll also cover strategies for managing mite pests.

Read on for more details, including how to register!

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Thrips parvispinus: Know Thy Enemy‘s Behaviour

This post written by Jessie deHaan (M.Sc.), Research Technician in the Biocontrol Lab at the Vineland Research and Innovation Centre.

Recent collaborative research from Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Agri-Business (OMAFA), Agriculture & Agri Food Canada (AAFC), and Vineland Research and Innovation Centre (Vineland) has helped reveal some key components of Thrips parvispinus ecology and behaviour.

This has helped us to develop monitoring approaches for this pest in greenhouse floriculture, and is helping to point us towards optimized control strategies.

This research was covered in a recent webinar hosted by Flowers Canada Growers (linked to in the post below). But if you’d rather read than watch, this post summarizes our findings!

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Effective Mass Trapping For Summer Thrips, Part 3: Should You Add Lures?

*Kendra van der Wier positioning a mass trapping card with a thrips lure. Photo by OMAFA.*

This post was written by Kendra van der Wier, Greenhouse Floriculture Summer Research Student for OMAFA.

Parts 1&2, written by Dr. Sarah Jandricic, covered why to trap and when, as well as ways to improve mass trapping by choosing the right colour and placement.

This post covers my summer research project looking into the utility of thrips lures. What kinds of lures are there, and do they work on multiple thrips species? And are they worth the extra expense?

This post helps answer these questions for 2 common pest thrips species – western flower thrips and onion thrips.

Stay tuned for more work on lures for mass trapping Thrips parvispinus, another aspect of my research project.

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Dip, cool or steam? Clean Start treatments for Thrips parvispinus

Mandevilla cuttings in propagation with different treatment tags in them.

This post written by Ashley Summerfield (M.Sc.), Senior Research Technician in the Biocontrol Lab at the Vineland Research and Innovation Centre.

They say that “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of the cure” and nowhere is this truer than in IPM. Reducing the incoming number of invading pests will inevitably improve the success of any pest management strategy.

This post covers recent research advances made by Vineland Research on treatments of propagative plant material to help control Thrips parvisipinus. This includes effects of treatments on all thrips life stages, including eggs, as well as potential phytotoxicity of treatments on tropical plants.

This post also includes a link to the recent webinar on starting clean for Parvi recorded by Flowers Canada Growers, if you prefer that format!

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REMINDER: Thrips parvispinus behavior webinar TOMORROW at 12 EST. Plus, don’t miss the 3rd webinar in this series on Parvispinus July 23.

Flowers Canada Growers (FCG) has recently been hosting a webinar series on Thrips parvispinus. This series goes over what we’ve uncovered about this pest here in Ontario during a joint project by the Vineland Research and Innovation Centre, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC), and the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Agri-business (OMAFA)

The next webinar will be tomorrow, July 16th at 12 EST, and will go over interesting behaviors and ecology we’ve learned about Parvi that could help us better manage this pest.

The last webinar will be held next week on July 23rd, also at noon EST. This presentation will look at progress that’s been made towards biocontrol of this invasive pests.

Read on for more details and how to watch the webinars!

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Upcoming Webinar: Getting to Know Thrips parvispinus

The first webinar covered the Start Clean approach for cuttings infested with Parvispinus (that recording will be made available shortly). The next webinar will be held on Thurs, July 16th, and will go over interesting behaviors and ecology we’ve learned about Parvi that could help us better manage this pest.

Read on for more details.

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