Want to brush up on your biosecurity awareness, so you can help PREVENT pests from entering your greenhouse BEFORE they become a problem?
Need a certificate to demonstrate you’re building your IPM learning for career advancement?
Then these FREE courses from the Ontario Soil & Crop Improvement Association (OSCIA) might be for you. Read on for more details.
Continue reading “Upcoming Greenhouse Biosecurity Courses in Aug., Sept. and Oct.!”
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.
Continue reading “Effective Mass Trapping For Summer Thrips, Part 3: Should You Add Lures?”
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!
Continue reading “Dip, cool or steam? Clean Start treatments for Thrips parvispinus”
Part 1 last week covered WHY to trap and WHEN to it’s best to put up your cards. This post goes over trap colour and placement to optimize thrips catches while reducing effects on natural enemies.
Although I’ve talked about this in older posts, I’ve put this data in context of what we know now, in terms of the various thrips species that invade Niagara greenhouses. I’ll also be sharing some data on card duration.
If that isn’t exciting enough for you, next week’s Part 3 will discuss whether or not using lures is worth it to increase thrips catches.
Continue reading “Effective Mass Trapping For Summer Thrips, Part 2: Colour, Placement and Duration”
Sometimes your thrips biocontrol program is working great. Other times, it seems to get completely overwhelmed. Thrips can get out of control in Summer, when fall crop production is ramping up. This is where mass trapping can really help.
This post will cover where thrips come from, which species we find on cards, and when the best time is to add mass trapping to your thrips IPM program.
And stay tuned for Part 2, which will cover ways to optimize your mass trapping!
Continue reading “Mass Trapping For Summer Thrips, Part 1: Why Trap and When to Start (Answer: This Week!)”
In the efforts to prevent a quarantinable strain of Ralstonia from entering the United States, USDA-APHIS has changed importation rules for rose material for planting. This includes rose material coming from Canada.
Under the new federal order, roses (Rosa spp.) grown in Canada must now have been grown entirely within Canada or the U.S.. This includes root stock and graft material.
This is to reduce a potential pathway for Ralstonia solanacearum Race 3 biovar 2 (Rs R3bv2) into the U.S., which can devastate solanaceous crops such as potato and tomato, as well as geraniums.
Read on for more details about RS R3bv2 and the new export regulations.
Continue reading “Growing Roses? Export Rules to the U.S. Have Changed.”
It’s that time of year again, when Million Bells (Calibrachoa) are being started in the greenhouse.
This post will discuss common insect and disease pests, such as aphids, thrips and black root rot and viruses.
Stay tuned for an upcoming post about production tips and tricks for this popular spring favourite.
Continue reading “Managing Million Bells: 2025 Updates”Originally published on the ONgreenhousevegetables blog on by Cara McCreary
They may be pretty, but they aren’t our friends. Spotted lanternfly (SLF) is an invasive sap-feeding planthopper with potential to harm agriculture and forestry in Ontario.
But I only grow greenhouse fruits and vegetables, so why does it matter to me, you ask? Read on to learn more about why this pest matters to everyone.
Continue reading ““COMMUNITY” PEST ALERT: Spotted Lanternfly”
Thrips often get out of control in summer, when fall crop production is ramping up. But why is this?
Although some thrips enter your greenhouse via plant material (think tropical thrips like Parvispinus), common thrips like western flower thrips and onion thrips mostly enter your greenhouse through vents and doors.
Continue reading to learn when your thrips are likely to spike in your greenhouse, as well as how to effectively use mass trapping to combat thrips and other pests.
Continue reading “How-To Video of the Week: Mass Trapping for Thrips and Other Pests”
Now that Victoria Day weekend has come and gone, many floriculture greenhouses find themselves with a rare period of empty compartments or benches before fall crops go in. Similarly, many vegetable greenhouses extending their growing period are facing their first crop clean out. Now is the perfect time to consider a thorough cleaning of your greenhouse to prevent pest issues going forward into the new crop. But this can seem like a daunting task.
OMAFRA and the Vineland Research and Innovation Centre have produced a how-to video on greenhouse clean-out and disinfection that can help you know where to start.
Continue reading “How-to Video of the Week: Greenhouse Sanitation”