A push-pull strategy for managing the anthophilous Frankliniella bispinosa (Morgan) in pepper and increasing conservation biological control was evaluated. Push components of ultraviolet (UV)-reflective mulch and foliar applications of kaolin and the pull component of sunflower companion plants were evaluated in replicated field experiments in 2011 and 2012. Adult F. bispinosa rapidly colonized and reproduced in the peppers and sunflowers during early flowering, but populations declined later, as numbers of the predatory Orius insidiosus (Say) and Orius pumilio (Champion) increased in both hosts. Numbers of F. bispinosa were reduced by kaolin during early pepper flowering. Thrips numbers were increased on some of the later sample dates, apparently due to reduced predation that resulted from negative effects of kaolin and UV-reflective mulch on Orius populations. Numbers of thrips increased in peppers with companion plants during the first week of flowering each year, followed by declines in thrips numbers during the next 2 wk in 2011. There was little effect each year of the companion plants on the numbers of Orius in the pepper flowers. There was one date in 2011 and no dates in 2012 in which UV-reflective mulch or kaolin acted in concert with the presence of the companion plants to reduce thrips numbers in the main crop of pepper. Yield effects were not attributed to thrips damage. We conclude that sunflower companion plants did not act additively or synergistically with kaolin or UV-reflective mulch to reduce thrips and increase Orius populations in pepper.
To the best of our knowledge this is the first report of GRSV in the United States in any host, although TSWV has been present in Florida for many years. Although the detection of GRSV in Florida tomatoes is cause for concern, the close relationship of GRSV and TSWV may allow successful adaptation of the integrated disease management strategies currently in use for TSWV in tomatoes for management of GRSV. Accepted for publication 17 May 2010. Published 7 July 2010.
The spread of the western flower thrips, Frankliniella occidentalis (Pergande), has resulted in the world-wide destabilization of established integrated pest management programs for many crops. It is hypothesized that frequent exposure to insecticides in intensive agriculture selected for resistant populations, which allowed invasive populations in the eastern USA to overcome biotic resistance from the native community of species. Research conducted in Florida to understand the role of biotic factors in limiting the abundance of the western flower thrips is reviewed. Orius spp. (Hemiptera: Anthocoridae) are effective predators that suppress populations of thrips on crop and non-crop hosts in southern and northern Florida. Orius are more effective predators of the western flower thrips than the native flower thrips, F. tritici (Fitch) and F. bispinosa (Morgan). The native species are competitors of the western flower thrips. Excessive fertilization and the use of broad-spectrum insecticides in crop fields further enhances populations of the western flower thrips. Interactions with native species clearly limit the abundance of western flower thrips in Florida, but populations are abundant in fertilized crop fields where application of insecticides excludes predators and competitor species.
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