Evaluation of Elevated CO2 for Control of Greenhouse Whiteflies on Poinsettias During Transit Progress Report — March 1992
Date Feb. 28, 1992
Title of Project Evaluation of Elevated CO2 for Control of Greenhouse Whiteflies on Poinsettias
Institution where work is being conducted University of Massachusetts, Amherst
Amount of Endowment Grant $ 5,000
Covering Period Jan. 92 to Jan. 93
Anticipated Date of Project Completion/Final Report Jan. 93
Individual(s) Conducting Project:
(List Project Leader First)
Dr. Susan S. Han - Title Assistant Professor
Telephone Number (413) 545-5228
Nancy Woycicki - Title Graduate student assistant
Evaluation of Elevated CO2 for Control of Greenhouse Whiteflies on Poinsettias
Susan S. Han and Nancy Woycicki
University of Massachusetts-Amherst
- A. Project Objectives:
- Elimination of whiteflies from poinsettias remains a major challenge for many growers. The problem
arises frequently from purchased cuttings that were infested with whiteflies in the propagation area.
Since prevention is known to be the best management strategy in controlling insect outbreaks, I proposed
to investigate means of excluding all stages of whitefly from plant materials prior to arrival at the
production area. The method combines results of past work in which elevated CO2 was effectively used
to control insects as Caribbean fruit fly and codling moth as well as studies showing the ability of
floricultural crops to tolerate elevated levels of CO2. The objectives of this project are 1) To determine
the effectiveness of elevated levels of CO2 in controlling variousstagesof whitefly. 2) To investigate the
effects of elevated levels of CO2 on further growth and development of plants.
constructing cages covered with fine screen in order to start and maintain plant materials in a whitefly-free
space. The availability of these clean plant materials will allow us to investigate the susceptibility
of various stages of whitefly to the elevated CO2 treatment. This can be accomplished by introduction of
adult whiteflies to the cages for one day. The adults will then be removed from the cages the following
day. All eggs will, therefore, be laid on the same day and further development of stages can be
coordinated. Treatments can then be applied separately to eggs, nymphs, pupae, or adults and the
survival rate of the various stages of whiteflies to the treatments can be assessed.
of the adults into the aspirator, the system can be connected directly to a constant flow of CO2 and used
to investigate the susceptibility of the adults to the CO2 treatments. The collected adults can also be
released into the cages for use in inoculation of clean plant materials. By allowing the eggs to develop
for various lengths of time, we will have all stages of insects needed to conduct the proposed studies.
cuttings should arrive late April or early May at which time we will evaluate three commonly grown
cultivars for their tolerance level to the elevated CO2 treatments.
pesticides that can be used in the greenhouse. These new regulations have forced the industry to explore
non-chemical methods for controlling common greenhouse pests. If our results show that elevated CO2
treatment is effective against whitefly, the technique would provide the floral industry a non-chemical
and safe way of preventing the spread of whiteflies. Using clean plant materials in conjunction with
integrated pest management will drastically reduce the hazards and expense of pesticide currently used
by greenhouse growers.
