Development of IPM Strategies for Floricultural Crops
Spending an afternoon counting the number of segments in a thrip’s
antennas may not be your cup of tea. But fortunately for growers of ornamentals,
Endowment-funded entomologist Dr. Michael Parrella finds the task absorbing.
The bug expert is putting finishing touches on a pictorial thrip-identification
chart designed for growers’ use in telling the difference between, for
instance, a western flower thrip (WFT) and its cousin the melon thrip.
(Get out your scopes, folks. It can’t be done with a hand lens.) And the
chart is just the frosting on an in-depth investigation aimed at pinpointing
effective, integrated-pest-management (IPM) methods for the bothersome
bugs. Working with commercial greenhouse growers of chrysanthemums and
roses in Southern California, Parrella is massaging cream-of-the-crop IPM
methods into an easily applied, practical, program, which will aid growers
in: 1) improving pesticide application timing, 2) reducing unnecessary
pesticide use, and 3) measuring control efficiency.
Parrella’s weekly exams of sticky cards, leaf samples, buds, and blossoms
collected in the greenhouses are central to the study. And his methodical
count of thrip adults, eggs, and young goes with the turf. To date,
Parrella has documented that thrips, when given a plant smorgasbord, show
preferences for certain cultivars. He’s also determined which sticky cards
give the most telling thrip samplings and where the insects prefer to hang
out within a given crop. Plus, he’s published information on promising,
thrip-fighting fungi. Top on Parrella’s list of current goals is determining
WFT’s density-to-injury relationship (that is, how many thrips it takes
to make a threat) with subject crops. So, he’s still counting bug bodies.
Results from Parrella’s thrip head counts are making dents in pest populations
now. And more news on his work will be available through The Endowment
this year.
FOR MORE INFORMATION, CONTACT RESEARCH-PROJECT LEADER:
Dr. Michael Parrella, Entomologist, University of California at Davis
E-MAIL: <mpparrella@ucdavis.edu>
