Een totaalsysteem voor plaagbestrijding met generalistische predatoren: Mogelijkheden voor een systeemaanpak in gerbera, chrysant en Alstroemeria

Generalist predatory bugs of the family Anthocoridae (Orius species) offer great potential for controlling various pests due to their broad prey diet. Moreover, they can be used preventively by offering alternative food. This report presents the results of a 3-year project that investigated 1) to what extent a broad pest complex can be controlled with generalist predators, 2) whether additional control with specialist natural enemies is necessary and effective, 3) which combinations of generalist predators give complementary pest control and 4) what a good strategy is for providing supplemental food in the crops gerbera, chrysanthemum and Alstroemeria. Very good results were achieved in gerbera in the control of Echinothrips, western flower thrips and greenhouse whitefly with Orius laevigatus, Orius majusculus and Orius minutus. The tomato looper was controlled well by O. majusculus and O. minutus. The species O. minutus and O. laevigatus complement each other well in the control of western flower thrips and greenhouse whitefly. In chrysanthemums, O. leavigatus performed very well in the control of western flower thrips, cotton aphids and leaf miners, but the control of leafminers was more effective with O. majusculus. The use of predatory mites
reduced the densities of O. laevigatus, making the control of aphids less effective. Pest control in Alstroemeria was not effective with Orius and the use of money spiders to combat thrips was explored.