Floriculture IPM Project

The Massachusetts floriculture industry is composed of approximately 900 greenhouse ranges with 9 million square feet of growing area, and a crop value of approximately $115 million. Pest management strategies for greenhouse crops differs from those used in production of edible crops in that, while the presence of a few insect, mites, or pathogens may not necessarily reduce the yield or vigor of plants, their aesthetic quality, and therefore their value, are reduced.

The goals of the Floriculture IPM project are to achieve success in the management of greenhouse pests while reducing the use of pesticides and substituting lower risk materials and economical, effective pest suppression using natural enemies. Participating growers have been able to reduce pesticide use by an average of 27%, while concomitantly reducing insect pest damage by an average of 87%.

Floriculture IPM Project Team members are: T.M. Smith, D. Cox, R. Wick, and P. Lopes.
Additional IPM information and articles can be found at the Floriculture Team site.