Detectie en bestrijding van wol- en schildluis in de sierteelt onder glas

Mealybugs and armoured scales are major pest species in ornamental crops in greenhouses. The first part of this report focuses on mealybug detection. The research presented here builds on previous study in which it was shown on laboratory scale that the odour profile released by plants after damage by mealybugs differs from the odour profile released by undamaged plants and plants that suffer from spider mite or mechanical damage. In the present study the change of several compounds in response to mealybug infection was shown to depend on a number of different factors: the growth stage of the plant (flowering/non-flowering), the time of the day sampling took place, the mealybug density and the duration of the mealybug infection. Although in each of the laboratory experiments several plant volatiles were found to significantly differ between mealybug-infested plants and control plants, so far no candidate indicator-volatiles have been found that always reacted significantly and in the same manner to a mealybug infection. The screening of new pesticides showed one pesticide to be effective against both the citrus mealybug Planococcus citri and the rose scale Aulacapsis rosae. Several isolates of entomopathogenic fungi were able to infect mealybugs in the laboratory, but results obtained in the greenhouse were disappointing. Lacewing larvae of the species Chrysoperla lucasina were able to control mealybugs when released repeatedly. The addition of Ephestia eggs disrupted this control in some cases.