Sustainable Pest Management: Encouraging Beneficials Alberta Farm Fresh School 2013 March 1, 2013 Edmonton, Alberta Dr. Ken Fry Olds College Outline: Ecology Beneficial Insect Needs Beneficial Insects Site Needs Management Practices Resources K. Fry 1
All Species Other 18% Verts 4% Birds 20% Reptiles 15% Fish 50% Arthropods 75% Amphib s 6% Mammals 9% note: 9% of 4% = 0.36% Biosphere Ecoregion Ecosystem Community Population Individual 2
What Roles do Insects Play? Pollinators Decomposers/Recyclers Predators/Parasitoids Herbivores Habitat Diversity Spatial Diversity Horizontal Diversity No monoculture Biodiversity Alternate hosts/refugia Vertical Diversity Herbs, forbs, shrubs, trees Inter-plantings with different heights Temporal Diversity Flowering plants all season long 3
Beneficial Insect Requirements Alternate hosts/prey Non-crop herbivores Banker plants Shelter Moderated microclimates In-season refuges Overwintering sites Nesting sites Food Nectar Pollen Access to Clean Water Wetlands Bird baths Ditches Bloom Timing of Native Plants Attractive to Beneficial Insects Native plant wild strawberry Natural enemies Bees golden Alexanders Canada anemone penstemon angelica cow parsnip sand coreopsis shrubby cinquefoil Indian hemp late figwort swamp milkweed Culver's root yellow coneflower nodding wild onion meadowsweet yellow giant hyssop horsemint Missouri ironweed cup plant pale Indian plantain boneset blue lobelia pale-leaved sunflower Riddell's goldenrod New England aster smooth aster Bloom Period May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct KEY good better best 4
Plants for our climate Plant Bloom Colour Time of Bloom Chokecherry White Spring Pussy Willow Yellow Spring Wild Rose Pink Early summer Goldenrod Yellow Fall Monarda Light Blue Summer Penstemon Pink Early Summer Echinacea Purple Summer Wildflower.org Predators & Parasitoids Ground Beetles Carabidae In soil & on ground Rove Beetles Staphylinidae In soil & on ground Lady Beetles Coccinellidae Soft-bodied insects Soldier Bug Pentatomidae Caterpillars, grubs Damsel Bug Phymatidae Caterpillars, grubs Ambush Bug Phymatidae In flowers Pirate Bug Anthocoridae Small caterpillars, thrips Big-eyed bug Geocoridae Small insects 5
Flower Fly Syrphidae Aphids Aphidoletes Cecidomyiidae Aphids, mites Feltiella Cecidomyiidae Mites Lacewings Chrysopidae, Hemerobiidae Soft-bodied insects Predator Mites Phytoseiidae Spider mites Predator Thrips Aeolothrips Thrips Yellow Jacket Wasps Vespidae Caterpillars, grubs Spiders Daddy Long Legs Parasitoids Pathogens Viruses Bacteria Nematodes Fungi 6
Conserving Beneficial Insects Conservation Preserving existing natural beneficial insects Reduce or eliminate pesticide use Refine pesticide application methods and timing Provide necessities for beneficial insects Overwintering sites Summer food sources Alternate hosts/prey Augmentation of Beneficial Insects Supplementing already present beneficial insects Inoculate Introduce/reintroduce natural enemies Inundate Repeated mass introductions Commercially available beneficials insects 7
Biological Control Agents Amblyseiulus fallacis Hardy spider mite predator Podisus maculiventris Hardy generalist caterpillar predator Aphidoletes aphidomyza Voracious aphid predator Chrysoperla carnea, Micromus spp. Aphid predators Large Scale Management Practices Drainage Air Water Shelterbelt Insect/Disease Refugia Block Immigration K. Fry 8
Miscellaneous Management Practices Intercropping Economic consideration Beneficial insect community Green manure Different pest complex Neighbouring crops/plants Chemical drift Source of insects/disease Effect of N fertilisation High nitrogen benefits aphids Healthy Plants Have Fewer Pest Problems K. Fry Mader, E., et al. 2011. Attracting Native Pollinators Storey Publishing, www.xerces.org $30.00 Flint, M.L. 1998. Natural Enemies Handbook. The Illustrated Guide to Biological Pest Control. University of California Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources: Publication 3386 http://anrcatalog.ucdavis.edu /InOrder/Shop/ItemDetails.as p?itemno=3386h 9
Web Resources for Biological Control Applied Bionomics http://www.appliedbionomics.com/ Becker Underwood http://www.beckerunderwood.com/products/_nematodes.asp BioBest http://www.biobest.be/ Biological Control Information Centre http://cipm.ncsu.edu/ent/biocontrol/ Guide to Biological Control http://cipm.ncsu.edu/ent/biocontrol/ Nematodes http://www.oardc.ohio-state.edu/nematodes/ Koppert http://www.koppert.nl/e005.shtml List of Suppliers http://www.cdpr.ca.gov/docs/ipminov/bensuppl.htm Web Resources Michigan State University Dr. Doug Landis http://www.nativeplants.msu.edu Plant Database http://www.wildflower.org/plants/ Prairie Plantwatch http://plantwatch.fanweb.ca/ Plant Phenology http://neoninc.org/budburst/ 10
Insect Identification Sites Bee Genera of Canada http://pick5.pick.uga.edu/mp/20q?guide=bee_genera _United_States_and_Canada Bug Guide http://bugguide.net/node/view/15740 Discover Life http://www.discoverlife.org/ Insect Identification Sites Butterflies & Moths http://www.butterfliesandmoths.org/ Earthworms http://www.naturewatch.ca/english/wormwatch/resou rces/key/index.html Forest Pests http://www.forestryimages.org/pests.cfm 11
Insect Identification Sites Yellow Jackets in Edmonton http://homebuggarden.blogspot.ca/2009/08/biodiv ersity-gone-bad-hornets-in-home.html Royal Alberta Museum http://www.royalalbertamuseum.ca/natural/insect s/bugsfaq/bugsfaq.htm Key to common pests http://agspsrv34.agric.wa.gov.au/ento/pestweb/de fault.idc Insect Identification Sites Bumblebees of North America http://www.nhm.ac.uk/researchcuration/research/projects/bombus/wnearctic.html Yellow Jackets of Western North America http://academic.evergreen.edu/projects/ants/tescbi ota/kingdom/animalia/phylum/arthropoda/class/insec ta/order/hymenoptera/family/vespidae/kweskin97/ke Y.HTM 12
Insect Identification Sites Key to Butterflies and Moths of Canada http://www.biology.ualberta.ca/bsc/ejournal/d_17/d_1 7_download.html Key to Aquatic Invertebrates of Alberta http://sunsite.ualberta.ca/projects/aquatic_invertebra tes/index.php AAFC Monographs http://esc-sec.ca/aafcmono.php Brown Marmorated Stink Bug Halyomorpha halys Native to China Detected in U.S. in 1998 Now in southern Ont. And P.Q. Two detections in AB (2008, 2012) Polyphagous 13