This post was contributed to by Drs. Sarah Jandricic and Chevonne Dayboll.
Summer is in full swing, and so too are garden mums! Although generally an easy crop, there several tweaks you can make to help save headaches AND money.
This post has information to help you optimize your irrigation, fertilizer and pest management programs in garden mums.
Continue reading “Garden Mums – 2020 Production and Protection Tips”
A new pesticide is available for greenhouse ornamental production in Canada that has shown potential for effective suppression of difficult-to-control thrips and whitefly species.
But to keep this new tool effective, growers will have to use this chemical wisely. Keep reading for efficacy data on ornamental crops and best management practices for incorporating this chemical into your IPM toolbox.
Continue reading “New Chemical Control Option for Thrips and Whitefly”
With the holiday season over, it’s time to turn our attention to Spring bedding crops. Although here for a brief window, the diversity of these crops means you’re bound to encounter some sort of disease and insect problems.
One way you can head off issues is to plan and prepare now. This post has important tips on sanitation for common spring crop diseases, dips and early sprays to prevent key pests, as well as tips on where to spend your biocontrol dollars.
Continue reading “Preventing Issues in Your Spring Crops: Sanitation, Dips and Bio Tips.”
It’s that time of year again where two of our biggest crops cross over: fall pot mums and poinsettia. This means growers have to simultaneously keep an eye on the two biggest pests in the industry: thrips (usually western flower thrips) and Bemisia whitefly.
Here’s how things are shaping up with these pests and where they might be going.
Continue reading “What you NEED TO KNOW about Thrips and Whitefly Control: September Update”
Thrips tabaci, or Onion thrips. Photo courtesy of Thrips-ID.com.
If you were at the Canadian Greenhouse Conference (or are regularly reading this blog!) you’d know we’ve recently identified Onion thrips as a pest of floriculture crops in Ontario (see this post).
Outside of Ontario? Well, this still may apply to you, as a recent study in France also indicated that up to 47% of pest thrips in floriculture greenhouses were Onion thrips. So, this issue could be wide-spread.
My last post covered the extent of the problem in Ontario’s industry. This post will help you identify if YOU are dealing with Onion thrips (OT) along with Western flower thrips (WFT), and what to do about it.
Up until this point, most of Ontario floriculture growers (and me!) assumed the only pest thrips we were dealing with was Western flower thrips (besides Echinothrips in a few crops like gerbera and poinsettia).
But a survey conducted in major commercial operations in 2016-2017, AND recent outbreaks of serious damage have proved us wrong. (You know what they say about assuming!). Keep reading to find out the truth about thrips! Continue reading “Which Thrips Are in Your Flower Crops: When Paradigms Shift (Part 1)”
IPM in potted mums can be challenging at times, but Ontario has lots of strategies for thrips control in this crop.
New to a thrips biological control program for chrysanthemums, or just need a refresher on the most effective strategies currently being used in the industry? Then watching the Greenhouse Canada Webinar, “Tips for Thrips Control: From Propagation to Pocketbook” is a good place to start.
Keep reading for the webinar link and some chrsysanthemum IPM tips for 2018.
Continue reading “May IPM Refresher: Effectively Controlling Thrips in Mums”
How are YOU controlling your Echinothrips? (Photo by Entocare NL).
Echinothrips americanus is an interesting pest in Ontario. An occasional pest of little concern for some, its presence often plagues others (i.e. cut flower growers). The greenhouse research team at Wageningen University & Research has been working to find reliable, effective biocontrol strategies for this Echinothrips.
Read on for their latest update on what’s working, and how this applies to Canadian growers.
Note: This is a re-post but contains important information on use of DDVP (dichlorvos) with mite sachets. (See point 4!)
In 2017, I had an interaction with a grower where their long-standing biocontrol program for thrips suddenly seemed to be failing. After a (too long) investigation by myself, the grower, and consultants, we found out the horrible truth: their predatory mites were being MURDERED (Duh dun DUHNNN!)… By improper storage.
This post focuses on all the ways YOU might also be guilty of mite murder, and how to make sure your mites are still alive and kicking in those little sachets.
You know the old rhyme: “April showers bring May flowers, but what do May flowers bring? Aphids“. Or sometimes it seems that way, anyways, with Spring bedding crops.
To help guide your pest management program this year, our friends (superiors?) over at Michigan State Extension have released a handy list of which crops are likely to attract which pests. Keep reading for more info.
Continue reading “Spring crops that are “magnets”for certain pests.”