Greenhouse Insect and Mite Pest Management
(book excerpts)The warm, humid conditions and abundant food in a greenhouse provide an excellent, stable environment for insect and mite development. Often, the natural enemies that serve to keep pests under control outside are not present in the greenhouse. For these reasons, pest situations often develop inside the greenhouse environment more rapidly and with greater severity than outdoors. Successful control of insect and mite pests on greenhouse crops depends on several tactics. These include regular scouting or monitoring for problems, identifying pests and their life stages, keeping good records of pest management practices, using exclusion techniques, practicing good sanitation, using biological controls when possible, and using selective pesticides that are properly timed and applied. Some greenhouse insects can transmit diseases to the crops, which are often more serious than the feeding injury that the insect causes. These insect vectors include some aphids, leafhoppers, thrips, and whiteflies. In these instances, the diseases must be managed through early insect control. Some common and important greenhouse pests are aphids, fungus gnats, thrips, whiteflies, caterpillars, leafminers, mealybugs, mites, slugs, and snails. Some are considerably harder to control than others, making constant monitoring vital to successful greenhouse production.
Click on the following topics for more information on greenhouse insect and mite pest management.
Topics Within This Chapter:
- Biology of Insects
- Insect Growth and Development
- The Egg Stage
- Larva
- Pupa
- Adult
- Nymph
- Insect Feeding
- Injury by Chewing Insects
- Injury by Piercing-Sucking Insects
- Feeding Habits
- Mites
- Insect and Mite Feeding Symptoms
- Leaf Spots
- Leaf Curling, Puckering or Rolling
- Bronzing
- Premature Leaf Drop
- Stem and Leaf Galls
- Cankers and Swelling
- Branch Dieback
- Root Damage
- Insect and Mite Pests Commonly Found in Greenhouses
- Aphids
- Life Cycle
- Types of Damage
- Monitoring
- Cultural Management Strategies
- Physical ManagementStrategies
- Biological Management Strategies
- Biorational Management Strategies
- Chemical Management Strategies
- Caterpillars
- Life Cycle
- Types of Damage
- Monitoring
- Cultural Management Strategies
- Biological Management Strategies
- Biorational Management Strategies
- Chemical Management Strategies
- Fungus Gnats
- Life Cycle
- Types of Damage
- Monitoring
- Cultural Management Strategies
- Biological Management Strategies
- Biorational Management Strategies
- Chemical Management Strategies
- Leafminers
- Life Cycle
- Types of Damage
- Monitoring
- Cultural Management Strategies
- Biological Management Strategies
- Chemical Management Strategies
- Mealybugs
- Life Cycle
- Types of Damage
- Monitoring
- Cultural Management Strategies
- Biological Management Strategies
- Biorational Management Strategies
- Chemical Management Strategies
- Mites
- Life Cycle
- Types of Damage
- Monitoring
- Cultural Management Strategies
- Biological Management Strategies
- Chemical Management Strategies
- Scales
- Life Cycle
- Types of Damage
- Monitoring
- Cultural Management Strategies
- Biological Management Strategies
- Biorational Management Strategies
- Chemical Management Strategies
- Shore Flies
- Life Cycle
- Types of Damage
- Monitoring
- Cultural Management Strategies
- Biological Management Strategies
- Biorational Management Strategies
- Chemical Management Strategies
- Thrips
- Life Cycle
- Types of Damage
- Monitoring
- Cultural Management Strategies
- Biological Management Strategies
- Biorational Management Strategies
- Chemical Management Strategies
- Whiteflies
- Life Cycle
- Types of Damage
- Monitoring
- Cultural Management Strategies
- Biological Management Strategies
- Biorational Management Strategies
- Chemical Management Strategies
