Pest management

Common Greenhouse pests

Aphids Piercing/sucking mouthpart Honeydew Come in different colors Can fly Born pregnant Control: Lady bugs, green lacewings, parasitic wasp, systemic, Ultra Pure-oil

Mealy bugs Feed on plant juices, spread diseases Honeydew Control: Cryptolaemus beetles, Ultra Pure-oil

Fungus gnats Dark delicate-looking flies similar in appearance to mosquitoes Larvae feed on plant roots Shore flies Control: moisture management, nematodes

Thrips Rasping/sucking mouth parts Feed on plant juices, spread disease Very small (1mm) Can fly carried in wind feed in rapidly growing tissue, flowers Stippling Control: predatory mites

White fly Similar to aphids Suck phloem sap, spread disease Honeydew Nymphs cause the most damage Control: Encarsia formosa

Scale Piercing sucking mouthparts Feeds on plant juices, spread disease Honeydew Control: Cryptolaemus montrouzieri, aphytis melinus, Ultra Pure-oil

Spider mites Related to spiders Suck plant juices heavy infestations cause the leaves to look chlorotic, stippled, or mottled in appearance Hard to detect until plants are already heavily infested Control: Predatory mites, systemic

Ants Attracted to honeydew Protect pest from boilogicals

Biological pest control Prevention Create an ecosystem

Lady bugs Feed on aphids and other soft bodied insects Larvae are more aggressive (aphid lion) Harvested and sent in large quanteties (migratory)

Aphidius matricariae Parasitic wasp Controls: aphids Brown cases Shipped in juice bottle http://www.youtube.c om/watch?v=rLtUk- W5Gpk

Aphidoletes aphidimyza Adults feed on honey dew, live for about 10 days Active only at night Larvae are small orange worms Larvae paralyze then suck out the aphids Larvae can consume aphids much larger than themselves and may kill many more aphids than they eat

Green lacewings Feed on: Aphids, mealy bug, thrips, mites, and whitefly Active at night Larvae is much more agresive Shipped on card strips

Encarsia formosa Parasitic wasp Feeds on immature whitefly Female adult lays egg in all immature stages of whitefly and the larvae feed on blood Emergence hole Order on: card strips

Stratiolaelaps scimitus Predatory mite Feed on: Thrips, fungus gnats Comes in bran in canisters

Amblyseius cucumeris Feeds on thrips Comes in bran in canisters

Nematodes Microscopic worms Feed on fungus gnat larvae Mix 50 gallons at a time Apply in non- pressurized sprayer Do not let water get contaminated with chemicals or you will kill nematodes Keep water agitated

Cryptolaemus montrouzieri Feeds on: Mealy bug, scale lay their eggs in the cottony egg-masses produced by mealy bugs Eggs hatch into white, shaggy-coated larvae (a wolf in sheep’s clothing) Larvae are much more mobile than mealy bug

Aphytis melinus Feeds on: Several species of armored scale Adult female deposits an egg beneath the scale cover, and larvae feed on scale Chews small exit hole

Ultra Pure-oil Controls soft bodied insects like aphids and mealy bug Will also control scale to some extent if applied consistently Suffocates bugs 70 mL alcohol and120mL oil/ 3 gal water