Rick Weinzierl, University of Illinois
ISCAOC, January, 2014
Insect Management in Fall Crops in High Tunnels
Insect Management in Fall Crops
in High Tunnels
• Spinach, lettuce, “leafy greens”
• Cole crops (broccoli, cauliflower, etc.) and crucifer greens
(mustards, turnip greens, collards)
• Tomatoes and peppers
• Brambles
• Day-neutral strawberries
Insect Management in Fall Crops in High Tunnels
Fall crops to be covered …
• All the usual suspects
• Cutworms, armyworms,
loopers, corn earworm,
imported cabbage worm
… “Leps” (Lepidoptera)
in general
• Aphids
• Slugs
• Special considerations
•
•
•
•
Mites
Whiteflies
Thrips
Spotted wing Drosophila
Insect Management in Fall Crops in High Tunnels
What insects (and related creatures)
infest fall crops in high tunnels?
• Identify the key pests of high tunnel crops
• Know the cultural steps, insecticides, and other management
practices that can be used to control them. For insecticides …
•
•
•
•
Labeled
Effective
Selective
Just persistent enough
• Recognize common natural enemies of insect and mite pests
• Understand available biological control practices
• Conservation
• Augmentation
Insect Management in Fall Crops in High Tunnels
Objectives …
“Lep” larvae … armyworms, cutworms, loopers,
Species most likely to continue to cause problems well into fall are those that
do not consistently diapause (enter dormancy) according to day length in late
summer … corn earworm (= tomato fruitworm), cabbage looper, and
diamondback moth, for example. European corn borer and tomato
hornworm do not persist into mid- or late fall in tunnels.
Tomato fruitworm (= corn earworm)
Insect Management in Fall Crops in High Tunnels
earworm/fruitworm, and more
Insect Management in Fall Crops in High Tunnels
“Lep” larvae
Cabbage looper and other “Lep” larvae on leafy greens and herbs
• All crops: Bt products, including Agree, Biobit, Dipel, Javelin,
Lepinox, and Xentari (0), and Entrust (1) … best against early stage
larvae, must be eaten to be toxic
• Tomatoes and peppers
• Baythroid (0 tomatoes, 7 peppers), Brigade (1), Coragen (1), Hero (1),
Intrepid (1), Mustang Max (1), Pounce (3), Sevin XLR-Plus (3), Warrior
(5)
• Salad greens
• Baythroid (0), Hero (7), Intrepid (1), Mustang Max (1), Pounce (1),
Proclaim (7), Radiant (1), Warrior (1, lettuce only)
(Numbers in parentheses indicate required preharvest interval. See the Midwest
Vegetable Production Guide and product labels for more information.)
Additionally, screening the roll-up or roll-down openings for side walls and
all doors / end openings and vents can exclude adult moths.
Insect Management in Fall Crops in High Tunnels
“Lep” larvae … control
Aphids … green peach aphid, cabbage








~1/16-1/8 inch long
Winged or wingless
Pear-shaped bodies
Cornicles (“tailpipes”) often present
Variable colors
Species identification difficult
Adult females give birth to live young
Susceptible to many predators, parasites,
and pathogens
Insect Management in Fall Crops in
High Tunnels
aphid, turnip aphid, others
Avoid unnecessary applications of pyrethroids, pyrethrins, Sevin, and other
insecticides that kill natural enemies
• All crops: insecticidal soaps, including M-Pede (0), horticultural oils, and
neem products including Neemix (0) … start early
• Tomatoes and peppers
 Actara (0), Admire (21 soil, 0 foliar), Assail (7), Diazinon (1, tomatoes only),
Dimethoate (7 for tomatoes, 2 for peppers), Fulfill (0), Malathion (1 for
tomatoes, 3 for peppers), Movento (1), Orthene (7, peppers only), Voliam
Flexi (1)
 Salad greens
◦ Actara (7), Admire (21 soil, 7 foliar), Assail (7), Diazinon (14), Fulfill (7),
Movento (3), Voliam Flexi (7)
◦ Herbs
◦ Admire Pro (14 soil, 7 foliar)
Numbers in parentheses indicate required preharvest interval. See the
Midwest Vegetable Production Guide and product labels for more
information.
Biological control suppliers sell parasitic wasps for various aphid species.
Insect Management in Fall Crops in High Tunnels
Aphid control
• Conditions that favor slug survival in
summer and fall include abundant moisture
and continuous presence of mulches.
• Cultural controls include removal of plant
debris and avoiding over-irrigation.
• Insecticides and miticides used against
arthropod pests do not kill slugs
• For chemical control of slugs, only baits are
effective:
• Deadline
• ProZap
• Sluggo
metaldehyde
metaldehyde
iron phosphate (OMRI-approved)
Insect Management in Fall Crops in High Tunnels
Gray garden slug
• Same as outside …
• Use boards or burlap bags on the soil surface or pans of beer
set into the ground as sampling tools before fruit ripens
• Apply baits before ripe strawberries are present
• Use the recommended rate
• Apply to the soil surface, not to plants or fruit
Insect Management in Fall Crops in High Tunnels
Keys to success with slug baits





1/50th inch long
8 legs as adults … not insects
Dark blotches on both sides of abdomen
Round, translucent eggs
Symptoms = mottling or russeting of
leaves, along with webbing
 Primary natural enemies are predaceous
mites
Insect Management in Fall Crops in High Tunnels
Twospotted spider mite
• Populations build rapidly in the
absence of rain … hence common
problems in high tunnels. They
also increase through the summer
and early fall.
• Heavily infested leaves brown and
drop … yields and quality decline
as a result.
• Tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers,
strawberries, and brambles are
common hosts in high tunnels.
• Frequent use of Sevin or
pyrethroids kills natural enemies
and may trigger outbreaks
Insect Management in Fall Crops in High Tunnels
Twospotted spider mite
• Use a 10-X hand lens and examine the undersides of leaves.
• Examine leaves from all areas in the high tunnel … infestations
MAY start near open sidewalls.
• Thresholds … not well established. Use an average of 1-2 mites
per leaflet or treat areas where infestations are greatest.
Insect Management in Fall Crops in High Tunnels
Scouting for twospotted spider mite
Miticides for twospotted spider mite
• Acramite (3), Agri-mek (7), Oberon (7)
• Cucumbers:
• Acramite (3), Agri-mek (7), Danitol (7), Oberon (7)
• Brambles:
• Acramite (1), Danitol (3), Savey (3), Zeal (0)
• Strawberries
• Acramite (1), Agri-mek (3), Danitol (2), Kanemite (1), Oberon (3),
Fujimite (1), Savey (3), and Zeal (1)
(Numbers in parentheses indicate required preharvest interval. See the Midwest
Vegetable Production Guide and the Midwest Small Fruit Spray Guide and product
labels for more information.)
Biological control suppliers sell predaceous mites to suppress
twospotted spider mite infestations.
Insect Management in Fall Crops in High Tunnels
• All crops: insecticidal soaps or horticultural oils … start early
• Tomatoes and peppers:
Whiteflies … greenhouse
 Mostly late season on tomatoes,
peppers, cucumbers, some herbs
 Adults lay eggs in circular pattern
 Immatures settle and become
immobile
 A “pseudopupal” stage allows
transition to adults
 Waxy covered white wings are held
tent-like over the body
 Greenhouse whitefly is parasitized by
Encarsia formosa
Insect Management in Fall Crops in High Tunnels
whitefly, silverleaf whitefly, others
 Yellow sticky traps for monitoring … many more traps for direct
control
 All crops: All crops: insecticidal soaps, including M-Pede (0),
horticultural oils, neem products including Neemix (0), and Encarsia
formosa for biological control … start early
 Tomatoes and peppers
 Actara (0), Admire (21 soil, 0 foliar), Assail (7), Brigade (1, tomato only),
Danitol (3, tomato only), Fulfill (0), Knack (14), Movento (1), Oberon (7),
Voliam Flexi (1)
(Numbers in parentheses indicate required preharvest interval. See the Midwest
Vegetable Production Guide and product labels for more information.)
Populations vary in susceptibility to pyrethroids such as Brigade and Danitol.
Biological control suppliers sell parasitic wasps to suppress whitefly
infestations.
Insect Management in Fall Crops in High Tunnels
Whitefly control
Thrips … eastern flower thrips, onion
• On strawberries … eastern or western flower
thrips
• Unlike outdoor spring production, period for
infestation and damage – and need for control –
is much longer
• Insecticides – Radiant, Brigade, others (see 2014
Midwest Small Fruit and Grape Spray Guide)
• On cucumbers, greens, other crops ,,, flower
thrips and onion thrips
• See 2014 Midwest Vegetable Production Guide
for insecticides
• Thrips-proof screening for exclusion;
predaceous mites and predaceous thrips for
biological control
Insect Management in Fall Crops in High Tunnels
thrips, western flower thrips,
• Don’t grow bedding plants in tunnels or
greenhouses ahead of tomatoes
• Insecticides … Radiant, Assail, Entrust
• See: http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/in401
• Thrips-proof screening for exclusion;
predaceous mites and predaceous thrips for
biological control
Insect Management in Fall Crops in High Tunnels
Western flower thrips on tomato
• Native to East Asia, where it is a pest on fruit.
• Detected in CA in 2008, OR, WA, BC, FL in 2009, UT,
SC, NC, MI, WI in 2010
• Widespread in IL surveys in 2012 … damage
primarily to fall raspberries … outdoors and in high
tunnels
Insect Management in Fall Crops in High Tunnels
Spotted wing Drosophila
Insect Management in Fall Crops in High Tunnels
Confirmed records of
spotted wing Drosophila,
Illinois, through fall, 2013
(may be incomplete).
Highest risk
Strawberries
Raspberries
Cherries
Nectarines
Blueberries
Blackberries
Moderate risk
Peaches
Grapes
Pears
Apples
Tomato
Alternate hosts
Wild plants with
berries,
such as…
Snowberry
Elderberry
Pokeweed
Dogwood
Insect Management in Fall Crops in High Tunnels
Fruit affected by SWD
• Plastic cup with side holes, apple cider
vinegar bait … Yeast-plus-sugar-water
bait more effective.
• Add a small yellow sticky trap to
capture flies. Or, use only the bait with a
drop of unscented soap.
• Hang in fruit canopy near fruit and in
the shade.
• Change bait weekly, and dispose away
from trap.
• Best detection potential expected as
fruit ripens.
• Check weekly, and record catches.
Approx. $1/trap for
materials and
construction.
See: http://ipm.illinois.edu/ifvn/contents.php?id=27
Insect Management in Fall Crops in High Tunnels
Monitoring SWD
Insect Management in Fall Crops in
High Tunnels
Spotting SWD males on traps
MALE
SWD identification
two rows of serrations on
ovipositor
M. Hauser, UC
no dark spots on wings
dark spot on
each wing
two dark bands
on each foreleg
M. Hauser, UC
Insect Management in Fall Crops in High Tunnels
FEMALE
• If SWD is present, protection is needed from
fruit coloring to harvest.
• If flies are detected, SWD is sensitive to several
insecticides ... 5- to 7-day intervals?
• Beware of PHIs, REIs, safety issues.
• Entrust is the most effective organic insecticide.
• Remove over-ripe/infested fruit to minimize
development sites.
• Stay informed through workshops, newsletters,
websites.
Insect Management in Fall Crops in High Tunnels
IPM for SWD
• Brambles
• Brigade (3), Danitol (3), Delegate (1), Entrust (1), Hero (3),
Malathion (1), Mustang Max (1)
• Strawberries
• Assail (1), Brigade (0), Danitol (2), Entrust (1), Malathion (3),
Radiant (1)
• Tomatoes
• Asana (1), Baythroid (0), Brigade (1), Danitol (3), Entrust (1), Hero
(1), Mustang Max (1), Pounce (3), Radiant (1), Warrior (5)
Numbers in parentheses indicate required preharvest interval.
See the Midwest Vegetable Production Guide and the Midwest
Small Fruit Spray Guide and product labels for more information
Insect Management in Fall Crops in High Tunnels
SWD insecticides
• OMRI-approved
• Bt products (Agree, Biobit, Dipel, Javelin, Lepinox, and Xentari)
are effective against Lepidopteran larvae if they eat them
• Entrust … primarily effective against Lepidopteran larvae, also
against a few other pests including thrips and SWD
• Neem products (Neemix, Azatin, others) … primarily effective
against aphids, whiteflies
• Insecticidal soaps (M-Pede) and horticultural oils… primarily
effective against mites, aphids, whiteflies
• Pyrethrins (Pyganic) … primarily effective against beetles (some
other pests)
With the exception of Entrust, these insecticides provide very
short residual control. Soaps and oils are effective only if they
contact the target insects while the spray is still wet.
Insect Management in Fall Crops in High Tunnels
Insecticide characteristics
Insecticide characteristics
• Asana, Baythroid, Brigade, Danitol, Hero, Mustang Max, Pounce,
Warrior, Voliam Flexi (partially), and Voliam Xpress (partially) and
many generic versions of the same active ingredients
• Effective against a range of Lepidopteran larvae and beetles,
sometimes against whiteflies, generally not effective against aphids
or mites
• Toxic to a wide range of natural enemies
• Organophosphates
• Diazinon, Dimethoate, Malathion, Orthene
• A range of target pests but most often used in fruits and vegetables
for aphid control
• Carbamates
• Sevin, Lannate
• Sevin is often used for beetle control, Lannate against a range of
pests including aphids. Both kill mite and aphid predators
Insect Management in Fall Crops in High Tunnels
• Pyrethroids
Insecticide characteristics
• Admire, Actara, and Platinum are very systemic, used primarily
against aphids … very toxic to bees
• Assail is used against aphids, Lepidopteran larvae, and certain
beetles
• Alternative Chemistries
• Avaunt, Coragen, Delegate/Radiant, Entrust, Fulfill, Movento,
Knack, and others … most are more selective (killing a narrower
range of insects and fewer natural enemies) and present fewer
risks to applicators
• Miticides
• Acramite, Agri-mek, Danitol, Fujimite, Kanemite, Oberon, Savey,
and Zeal
Insect Management in Fall Crops in High Tunnels
• Neonicotinoids
• Ground beetles
• Green lacewings
• Lady beetles
• Parasitic wasps
• Predaceous mites
Less important …
• Praying mantids
Insect Management in Fall Crops in High Tunnels
Common natural enemies
Biological control opportunities
• Recognize beneficial species, don’t overuse insecticides, apply
selective insecticides when effective, maintain stable habitats,
provide alternate foods (pollen, nectar)
• Augmentation
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Lepidopteran larvae … Bt insecticides
Aphids … parasitic wasps
Slugs … none
Twospotted spider mite … predaceous mites
Thrips … predaceous mites and predaceous thrips
Whiteflies … parasitic wasps
Spotted wing Drosophila … none yet documented as effective
Insect Management in Fall Crops in High Tunnels
• Conservation
• To exclude moths
• To exclude thrips, aphids, and spotted wing Drosophila
• Suppliers include Hummert’s and Growers Supply (FarmTek)
• Comparison of Greenhouse Screening Materials for Excluding
Whitefly (Homoptera: Aleyrodidae) and Thrips (Thysanoptera:
Thripidae). Michelle L. Bell,a, b and James R. Bakerb
http://www.ecaa.ntu.edu.tw/weifang/Hort/screens/i00220493-093-03-0800.pdf
Insect Management in Fall Crops in High Tunnels
Screening and row covers for exclusion
 Koppert Biological Systems, Inc. - USA
 28465 Beverly Road, Romulus, MI 48174. Tel: +1 800 928 8827;
fax: +1 734 641 3799. Email: asktheexpert (at)
http://www.koppertonline.com. Web : www.koppert.com
 Biobest
• International Technology Services , Richard Gerhart, Wayzata, MN
55391. Tel.: +1 877 505 9703; Fax: +1 303 552 5747. e-mail:
[email protected]; website: www.beesandbugs.com
• MGS Horticultural Inc ., 50 Hazelton Street, Leamington, On N8H
3W1
Phone: +1 519 326 90 37; Fax: +1 519 326 58 61 e-mail:
[email protected]; website: www.mgshort.com
Insect Management in Fall Crops in High Tunnels
Suppliers for biological control
organisms
• Great Lakes Ipm, Inc.
10220 Church Rd Ne
Vestaburg MI 48891
989-268-5693; 989-268-5911; 800-235-0285
Fax: 989-268-5311
http://www.greatlakesipm.com/
Insect Management in Fall Crops in High Tunnels
Supplier for monitoring equipment,
sticky traps, hand lenses, etc.
• Midwest Vegetable Production Guide
• http://www.btny.purdue.edu/pubs/id/id-56/
• Midwest Small Fruit and Grape Spray Guide
• https://ag.purdue.edu/hla/Hort/Documents/ID-169-2012.pdf
• High Tunnel Integrated Pest Management: Insects and Mites
• http://www.extension.umn.edu/distribution/horticulture/compo
nents/M1218-10.pdf
• Defending the Castle: Integrated Pest Management in High
Tunnel Strawberries
• http://extension.usu.edu/files/publications/publication/Horticult
ure_HighTunnels_2012-04pr.pdf
Insect Management in Fall Crops in High Tunnels
References on insect pest management
in high tunnels