Location: Temperate Tree Fruit and Vegetable Research
Title: How can growers successfully release beneficial insects for pest control? New USDA research effort aims to find outAuthor
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Submitted to: Good Fruit Grower
Publication Type: Trade Journal Publication Acceptance Date: 12/14/2021 Publication Date: 1/18/2022 Citation: Schmidt-Jeffris, R.A. 2022. How can growers successfully release beneficial insects for pest control? New USDA research effort aims to find out. Good Fruit Grower. 75:24-27. Interpretive Summary: n/a Technical Abstract: Tree fruit growers in the Pacific Northwest purchase and release commercially available natural enemies to control pests. This article summarizes current challenges these growers face due to a lack of research on best-practices for performing these releases. Today, recommendations for releases and available natural enemies primarily focus on greenhouse crops. This is a very different environment from orchards, which are unenclosed, dry and hot in the summer, and reach freezing temperatures in the winter. Recent research by scientists at the USDA-ARS in Wapato, WA is summarized and shows that in certain cases, natural enemy releases can be successful. The article also calls for grower responses to a survey to identify barriers to implementing releases and key areas of future research |
