Frankliniella occidentalis (Pergande) integrated pest management programs for fruiting vegetables in Florida

• Published in: Pest management science Vol. 68; no. 12; pp. 1537 - 1545
• Main Authors: Demirozer, Ozan, Tyler‐Julian, Kara, Funderburk, Joe, Leppla, Norm, Reitz, Stuart
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Chichester, UK John Wiley & Sons, Ltd 01-12-2012; Wiley; Wiley Subscription Services, Inc
• Subjects: Animals; Biological and medical sciences; biological control; companion crops; Control; Crops, Agricultural; Drug Combinations; economic threshold; Florida; Flowers; Frankliniella occidentalis; fruiting; fruiting vegetables; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Insecticide Resistance; Insecticides; Insects; integrated pest management; Macrolides; natural enemies; Pest control; Pest Control - methods; Pest Control, Biological - methods; pests; Phytopathology. Animal pests. Plant and forest protection; Plant viruses and viroids; Plants; predators; Protozoa. Invertebrates; thrips; Thysanoptera; tospovirus; Vegetables; viruses; Florida; United States; North America; America; Plant pathogen; Insecta; Tospovirus; Frankliniella occidentalis; Fruit vegetable; Thysanoptera; thrips; Virus; Pest; Bunyaviridae; fruiting vegetables; Arthropoda; Thripidae; Invertebrata; Integrated pest management
• ISSN: 1526-498X; 1526-4998
• DOI: 10.1002/ps.3389

BACKGROUND: The spread of the western flower thrips, Frankliniella occidentalis (Pergande) (Thysanoptera: Thripidae), resulted in the worldwide destabilization of established integrated pest management programs for many crops. Efforts to control the pest and the thrips‐vectored tospoviruses with calendar applications of broad‐spectrum insecticides have been unsuccessful. The result has been a classic ‘3‐R’ situation: resistance to numerous insecticides; resurgence of the western flower thrips populations as a result of natural predators and native competitor thrips being eliminated; replacement by various other pests. This paper reports on integrated pest management programs for fruiting vegetables that are effective, economical, ecologically sound and sustainable. RESULTS: The components include the following: define pest status (economic thresholds); increase biotic resistance (natural enemies and competition); integrate preventive and therapeutic tactics (scouting, ultraviolet‐reflective technologies, biological control, compatible insecticides, companion plants and fertility); vertically integrate the programs with other pests; continually communicate latest science‐based management tactics with end‐users. CONCLUSION: These programs have been widely implemented in Florida and have significantly improved the management of western flower thrips and thrips‐transmitted viruses. Copyright © 2012 Society of Chemical Industry