Special section: Cannabis production Controlled Environment Agriculture, Education, Events

Pest control innovations at the Great Lakes Expo By Madi Jones

This year at the Michigan Greenhouse Growers EXPO, which is part of the Great Lakes Fruit, Vegetable and Farm Market EXPO, Erich Schoeller will be presenting valuable information in two educational sessions. 

Erich Schoeller is an assistant professor of CEA integrated pest management in the Department of entomology at the University of Georgia, and is a leading expert in biological control strategies for CEA systems. He has over 10 years of experience managing pests in both urban and protected agricultural settings. 

Schoeller’s work focuses on a variety of facilities, from high tunnels to vertical farms, and involves research that helps ornamental, floriculture, vegetable and fresh herb growers improve pest management practices. His research targets both basic and applied approaches, providing stakeholders with ecologically sound and reliable pest management strategies, which maximize ROI and increase food safety. 

“My research specialty is biological control of arthropod pests,” Schoeller said. “I aim to understand how various factors contribute to the success or failure of biological control programs using broad approaches ranging from understanding the basic biology of species to understanding productionlevel impacts on pest and natural enemy populations.” 

At the Michigan Greenhouse Growers EXPO, Schoeller will share his insights in sessions aimed to equip growers with the knowledge they need to adopt sustainable, effective pest management strategies in an era of increasing pesticide resistance and regulatory restrictions.

THRIPS PARVISPINUS: A LOOMING THREAT TO HORTICULTURAL PRODUCTION 

Thrips parvispinus is an emerging pest in the U.S. and Canada and has the potential to inflict significant damage to horticultural crops in protected agriculture. 

“We will talk about the history of Thrips parvispinus, its biology, potential damage, current management tactics and ongoing efforts to better understand how to manage this pest in controlled environments,” Schoeller said. 

ENHANCING BIOLOGICAL CONTROL WITH BANKER PLANTS AND SUPPLEMENTAL FOODS 

Biological pest control in protected agriculture can be challenging at times, as natural enemy populations may decline during periods of low pest activity. 

“We will talk about how to support natural enemy populations in greenhouses through the use of banker plants and supplemental food applications to the crop,” Schoeller said. 

With increasing restrictions on the development of new chemical pesticides and the rise of pesticide-resistant insect pests, the need to adopt alternative pest control measures has never been more urgent. According to Schoeller, growers are turning to integrated pest management (IPM) as a preferred strategy in CEA. “Biological control complements the productional shift within CEA, which has also focused on improved economic, social and environmental sustainability,” Schoeller explained. 

A key tactic within biological control is performing augmentative releases of natural enemies using the “predator first approach,” where natural enemies are released before pest populations increase. 

However, growers may find challenges when implementing this tactic. “The caveat to successfully implementing this tactic is that alternative resources must be available for natural enemies during periods of low prey densities, such as the beginning of the crop cycle,” Schoeller stated. 

In some cases, particularly in CEA facilities, natural enemies cannot migrate and find alternative resources, which can make retaining them on the target crop difficult. As a result, costs for biological control may exceed those for chemical pesticides if multiple releases are necessary.

“Supplementing natural enemy populations with alternative resources, especially generalist predators, is an effective tactic for promoting their establishment and long-term persistence on target crops,” Schoeller said. 

High-tech CEA facilities are generally designed to reduce pest pressure through physical exclusion, leading to fewer pest problems when compared to lower-tech systems. However, this doesn’t mean pests are never an issue in these advanced setups. 

“As growing systems advance, we must continue to research pest management challenges to provide growers with best practices for their operations,” Schoeller said.