About these videos
Welcome to Ontario’s “how-to” series! These videos designed to demonstrate important greenhouse IPM strategies based on the current information and best practices. With each video being under 10 minutes long, they can be a useful tool in training new staff. They also contain some helpful tricks and tips for more experienced pest management practitioners. Check out the table of contents below for specific video or watch them all!
Videos about general IPM strategies and quality control were made by the Vineland Research and Innovation Centre, in collaboration with the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Agribusiness (OMAFA), and are applicable to both greenhouse floriculture and vegetable crops. Whitefly scouting and biocontrol program videos were made by the Vineland Research and Innovation Centre in collaboration with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC).
Disclaimer: the appearance of any products in these videos does not constitute endorsement by OMAFA or the Vineland Research and Innovation Centre. Videos contain current information as of the initial release date. Some products or procedures that were not available or widely used at the time of filming were not included in these videos. Any products featured in the videos may currently be unavailable or discontinued.
Scouting Videos
Monitoring For Pests in the Greenhouse – General
Initial Release Date: 2020
Details: Regular monitoring of greenhouse crops should be done to assess pest incidence and severity, and is essential for the success of IPM programs. This video outlines the most important components of monitoring: using yellow sticky traps or trap plants for insect monitoring and inspecting plants weekly for other signs of disease or insect pests. It also highlights the importance of recording your findings to track pest populations over time.
Plant Washing Method for Sampling Thrips and Mites on Farm
Production Date: May 2024
Description: Plant inspections and plant taps are not always effective sampling strategies depending on what pest species you are looking for. Plant washing is a more accurate way to detect low levels of highly damaging thrips and mites. This method can also be used regularly to help monitor pest or natural enemy pressure. This video outlines how to conduct plant washes on-farm using a few basic tools.
Monitoring for Whitefly in Poinsettia Crops
Initial release date: 2016
Description: Video 1 addresses Monitoring for Whitefly in Poinsettia Crops – This video demonstrates how to accurately identify and monitor two species of whitefly pests [Greenhouse Whitefly (Trialeurodes vaporariorum) and Silverleaf/Sweet Potato Whitefly (Bemisia tabaci) on poinsettia at multiple stages of greenhouse production. Viewers are shown the morphological difference between the two pests and how they can cause damage to the plants.
How to Build an Aspirator to Collect Insects
Production Date: May 2024
Description: An aspirator is an easy way to collect small insects such as thrips and whiteflies for identification, and can also be a useful tool in quality assurance testing of natural enemies. This video demonstrates how to build your own aspirator using a few inexpensive materials.
Releasing or Applying Biocontrol Agents
Effective Release Methods for Predators and Parasitoids in Greenhouse Crops
Initial Release Date: April 2020
Details: The steps outlined in this video include: proper methods to receive, store and release biological control agents. Following these steps will help lead to a successful biocontrol program in greenhouse crops.
Quality Control and Application of Entomopathogenic Nematodes
Initial Release Date: 2018
Details: This video briefly discusses the lifecycle of entomopathogenic nematodes and how they kill thrips. It outlines the necessary steps for checking the viability of the nematodes you receive, and makes recommendations for applying nematodes in your crop.
Quality Control of Biocontrol Agents
Quality Assessment of Biocontrol Agents – Why do Biocontrol Agents Sometimes Fail?
Initial Release Date: 2020.
Details: This video is a short recorded webinar detailing factors that can cause a biocontrol program to fail, including compromised quality of a biocontrol shipment. At the end, the grower guide to quality assurance for biocontrol agents is introduced.
Quality Checking Biocontrols: Predators
Initial Release Date: 2020
Details: In this video, we demonstrate best practices for quality checking a variety of predatory insects and mites that can be done in a commercial greenhouse with limited materials. The video also covers how to scout for different predatory insect life stages in your crop to check whether the biocontrol program is establishing, and how to distinguish between predator and prey mites when counting predatory mite products that are shipped with feeder mites. The predators covered in this video include mites, Aphidoletes, Orius and other immature predators.
Quality Assurance of Slow Release Predatory Mite Sachets
Initial Release Date: 2020
Details: This video is a simple how-to-guide to quality checking predatory mites received in sachet form using walk-out counts. This technique is considered the “gold standard” for assessing mite sachets.
Quality Checking Biocontrols: Parasitic Wasps
Initial Release Date: 2020
Details: This video outlines how to quality check parasitic wasps in a commercial greenhouse with limited materials when receiving your order of biocontrol agents. Parasitoid formulations covered in this video include loose pupae/mummies, adults in vials, and parasitic wasps on cards.
Quality Control and Application of Entomopathogenic Nematodes
Initial Release Date: 2018
Details: This video briefly discusses the lifecycle of entomopathogenic nematodes and how they kill thrips. It outlines the necessary steps for checking the viability of the nematodes you receive, and makes recommendations for applying nematodes in your crop.
Quality testing of entomopathogens on farm
Initial Release Date: May 2024
Description: Entomopathogenic fungi, such as Beauveria bassiana and Metarhizium brunneum, are widely used as bio-insecticides in products like BotaniGard and Lalguard M52. These biopesticides are living organisms, and the spores need to be alive for the product to work. This video demonstrates an easy way that you can check if the biopesticide product contains viable spores using galleria moth larvae (aka waxworms).
IPM Strategies
Mass Trapping in the Greenhouse using Sticky Traps
Production Date: 2022
Description: As part of Vineland and OMAFRA’s how-to video series, we’ve included this video on mass trapping. This video demonstrate how best to use sticky cards and tap to control flying pest populations in a greenhouse. It also provides some helpful tips and tricks to make sticking it to pests easier!
Cutting Dips to Start Clean
Description: This video demonstrates the dipping technique using poinsettia cuttings, and highlights some important elements that will help make dipping more successful. These same principles also apply to cuttings of other plant species.
Implementing Biological Control for Whitefly in Poinsettia Crops
Initial release date: 2016
Description: This video presents several currently available biological controls that can contribute to an IPM program for the management of whitefly. Viewers are shown the type of packaging the agents arrive in; how best to store them and how long their efficacy should last in the greenhouse. They learn how, when and where to apply the agents in the greenhouse in order to obtain successful results.
Success Stories from Greenhouse Growers using Biocontrols for Whitefly
Initial release date: 2016
Description: In this video, growers that are successfully using biological controls in their greenhouse production share their experiences and discuss the advantages of using biological controls over conventional chemical pesticides to manage pests. It has been shown that increased adoption rates of IPM techniques such as biological control is greatly influenced by grower to grower exchanges.
Cleaning and Sanitizing a Greenhouse
Details: This video tackles removing old plant material, cleaning surfaces and sterilizing with sanitizers. This helps to reduce the incidence of both arthropod pests and diseases that like to hide in nooks and crannies, and in water delivery systems.
Initial Release Date: 2020