Beneficial insect approach can help with chemical resistance

The release of new chemical products has reduced over the last decade and growers are becoming more aware of the need to adopt integrate pest management (IPM) strategies to overcome pest issues.

Biological Services is seeing/hearing reports from many regions that pesticides for whitefly, mites, thrips and cabbage moths just aren't working as well as they have in the past.

However with good management practices, it is possible to reduce the risk of outbreaks, control pests well, and only use the available chemicals when absolutely necessary.

1. Farm hygiene: Look for signs of pests on host weeds on the property. Controlling these weeds will avoid attracting pests to the farm and prevent them from finding their way to the crops.

Think about encouraging plants that do not host pests and are useful for attracting beneficial insects.

2. Look for more resistant plants: Consider the selection of crop varieties that are naturally less susceptible to the effects of pests, virus and disease.

3. In greenhouse situations, improving screening: This can reduce and potentially stop pests from coming inside.

4. Monitoring for early signs of pests: Monitoring for pests and beneficials can allow the grower to make informed decisions on whether pests need control or not. This can avoid regular calendar-based spray rotations.

5. Incorporate beneficial insects and mites: Incorporate these into a program early. The longer the pests can stay suppressed, the less chemical required.

6. Go easy on the pesticides: Overuse leads to resistance so Biological Services recommends using pesticides only when a grower needs to so chemicals will remain useful for years to come, and he or she won't run out of options.

Where possible, use chemicals that are safe to beneficials and only target the pest causing the problem.

If a grower is finding that pests in crops are becoming more difficult to control with the chemicals being used, they can talk to their local consultant or e-mail Biological Services to learn more about how the company can tailor an IPM program.