Integrated Pest Management Program Department of Plant Science and Landscape Architecture

UConn Extension

Tales from the Field, June 24, 2016 New Advances for Biological Controls Conference

Thank you to all of you who attended. We had 80 attend from CT, MA, NH, NY and PA and had an informative and educational day with lots of good discussion and sharing of expertise. In the next few messages, I will highlight some of the information presented at this meeting. Mary Gardiner, Ohio State University, Wooster, OH, spoke on Good Garden Bugs: Identifying Native Predators and Parasitoids Common in Outdoor Ornamental Production.

Mary’s presentation was a summary of her book “Good Garden Bugs. Everything You Need to Know About Beneficial Predatory Insects”. This book is available from Amazon and it easy to read with lots of great color photos. https://www.amazon.com/Good-

Garden-Bugs-Everything-Beneficial/dp/1592539092 You can also view this You Tube video by Mary on Identifying Natural Enemies in Vegetable Crops: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r1EYCevAgnY

Pepper Banker Plants

Figure 1: Ornamental Pepper and Lobularia Habitat Plant, Photo by L. Pundt

Some growers are using pepper banker plants with lobularia. (Lobularia attracts both Orius and flower flies or hover flies or syprhid flies). • Release predatory mites (sachet) on the pepper bankers. • Feed Orius with sterile Ephestia eggs (Nutrimac) to increase egg laying. • Look for the bright orange Orius nymphs by tapping firmly over a sheet of white paper.

Figure 2 Orius nymph feeding on aphid (photo courtesy of J. Obermeyer, Purdue University).

• DO NOT Spray your banker plants………with anything! Upcoming Programs for you Financial Decisions for Greenhouse Businesses - August 30, 2016 (CGGA) http://greenhouse.uconn.edu/cgga_aug2016/ Practical Applications in Greenhouse Nutrient Management – September 27, 2016 http://ipm.uconn.edu/documents/view.php?id=980 Northeast Greenhouse Conference and Expo – Nov. 9 and 10, 2016 Boxborough, MA (New Location) http://www.negreenhouse.org/

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