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Funded Project

Funding Program: IPM Partnership Grants

Project Title: Developing Key Indicators for Greenhouse Grower Discovery and Implementation of Guardian Plants in IPM

Project Director (PD):

Carol S. Glenister [1]

Lead State: NY

Lead Organization: IPM Laboratories, Inc.

Undesignated Funding: $12,849

Start Date: Apr-01-2009

End Date: Mar-31-2010

No-Cost Extension Date: Mar-14-2011

Pests Involved: thrips, whitefly, flies

Site/Commodity: greenhouse

Area of Emphasis: biocontrol, biological control, trap plants, trapping, guardian plants

Summary: We propose to develop a database in which growers' observations can be recorded and shared. In order to do this, we propose to cooperate with growers to set up and evaluate a Guardian Plant monitoring template and develop a decision tree for growers interested in producing their own Guardian Plant. We will test this template and decision tree on 2 Guardian Plant systems at 3 grower sites, and together with the growers identify and quantify key indicators of Guardian Plants impact. The two Guardian Plant systems are: 1. black pearl ornamental peppers supporting thrips predator, Orius insidiosus and 2. lantana supporting whitefly parasites. We will revise the monitoring template and decision tree as needed, then publish these together with a Guardian Plant database that we compile from the 2009 work, 5 years of data developed in Guardian Plant and Habitat Plant work supported by NE IPM and NE SARE and all other Northeast grower records that we know of. In addition, we will set up grower presentations on their experiences at grower meetings in Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, New York and possibly Ohio.

Objectives: I. Cooperate with growers to set up and evaluate a Guardian Plant monitoring template and develop a decision tree for growers interested in producing their own Guardian Plants.

II. Identify and quantify key indicators of Guardian Plants impact. Demonstrate in-depth observation of 2 Guardian Plant systems at 3 grower sites, 1. black pearl ornamental peppers supporting thrips predator, Orius insidiosus and 2. lantana supporting whitefly parasites.

III. Find venues for growers to explain their Guardian Plant activities at grower meetings. Support with 4 page handout and web article of the same information formatted appropriately.

IV. Compile and publish a static Guardian Plant database with key indicators input from existing Guardian Plant projects. This static database will provide a template for developing a sortable database that can answer questions by pest, natural enemy, crop, or Guardian Plant.

V. Research web based citizen science databases and develop a proposal to create a searchable online database to record and communicate Guardian Plant development and use by growers.

Proposal

Final Report:

Outcomes
Excellent whitefly control was achieved at Bakers Acres using the Guardian Plant lantana and natural enemy releases of Encarsia formosa in an herb greenhouse (Figure 2, included in full report). No pesticide applications were required at that site during the whole growing season.

Mischler's Greenhouse attributes its extremely low whitefly numbers in its spring crops to the continuous presence of whitefly parasites on large lantana standards, which Mischler's maintains through the winter. These lantanas exhibited very low numbers of whiteflies. The lantanas were able to provide a source of whitefly parasites for the crops, and no whiteflies were observed conferred to the adjacent crops.

The biological thrips controls at Peace Tree Farm fully managed the thrips at very low levels throughout the growing season, such that no pesticides were required.

An unexpected setback occurred with the black pearl peppers at Mischler's when they became a breeding site for mealybugs and the mealybug predator, Cryptolaemus montrouzieri. The grower removed these plants from the greenhouse.

As a result of this greenhouse work, an outdoor vegetable grower in Western NY cooperated in a SARE Partnership grant (entitled Control of Spider Mites in Eggplants and Thrips in Field Sweet Peppers Using Guardian Plants and Predators) to test the use of 2 Guardian Plants in the field.

Impacts
Safeguarding human health and the environment: No pesticides were required for control of thrips or whiteflies at the 3 sites trialing Guardian Plants in 2009. This project facilitated the development of Guardian Plants and supported increased grower confidence in biological controls, encouraging biological control adoption and decreasing pesticide use.

Economic Benefits: This project supported the development of IPM tools that growers can produce themselves. Guardian Plants are aiding growers in transitioning to biological control. In the case where the Guardian Plants successfully produce natural enemies that control the pest, repeated and ongoing purchases of natural enemies are not necessary and pesticide use is reduced 100%. For example, Mark Yadon at Mischler's has not purchased whitefly parasites or pesticides for whitefly control in his spring crops for many years. He attributes this to the populations of whitefly parasites that are overwintering on his lantana and hibiscus plants.

Implementation of IPM: This project evaluated Guardian Plants in Northeast greenhouses, but the model will be adaptable to other regions, crop types, and pests. Guardian Plants can be readily adopted by growers because there is minimal cost or risk associated with trying them.

Of the 92 grower meeting attendees surveyed in 2009, more than half the 22 respondents said that they were likely to use Guardian Plants in the future.

As a result of this greenhouse work, an outdoor vegetable grower in Western NY cooperated in a SARE Partnership grant (entitled Control of Spider Mites in Eggplants and Thrips in Field Sweet Peppers using Guardian Plants and Predators) to test the use of 2 Guardian Plants in the field.

Guardian Plants are a needed tool in building growers' confidence in the adoption of biological control. Overall, the Guardian Plants proved to be a site where natural enemies and pests were easy to find although both were rare and difficult to find in adjacent crops. The Guardian Plants gave growers confidence that the natural enemies were actually in the greenhouse because the Guardian Plants served as excellent sites for detection and observation of natural enemies not detectable on the crop.

Report Appendices

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