Researchers Testing “One-Two Punch” Against Disease-Spreading Thrips

"Spraying tomatoes with kaolin, a type of powdered clay, and one of three plant essential oils cut in half the incidence of tomato spotted wilt disease, which is spread by thrips.

According to Stuart Reitz, an entomologist with the ARS Insect Behavior and Biocontrol Research Unit’s Tallahassee, Fla., site, kaolin forms a white coat that may interfere with thrips’ ability to zero in on color cues during flight. Thrips that do still land on treated plants may find the kaolin coat difficult to penetrate with their juice-sucking mouthparts. This, in turn, may diminish their transmission of the TSW virus, which is present in the insects’ saliva. " Jan Suszkiw

More »

Source: USDA (ARS) http://www.ars.usda.gov/

A Biocontrol for a Wide-Ranging Thrips

"A pest with a voracious appetite may have met its match in a predatory mite being evaluated as a biocontrol agent by Agricultural Research Service (ARS) scientists in Fort Pierce, Fla. in collaboration with University of Florida researchers.

The chilli thrips is an invasive pest that feeds on leaves, turns them brown, kills new growth and attacks up to 150 crops, including peppers, strawberries, tomatoes, peanuts, cotton and a variety of ornamentals."

More »

Source: USDA Agricultural research service