Source: GLADES CROP CARE, INC. submitted to
BIOLOGICALLY BASED ALTERNATIVE SOLUTIONS TO PEPPER WEEVIL MANAGEMENT IN THE SOUTHERN UNITED STATES
Sponsoring Institution
National Institute of Food and Agriculture
Project Status
COMPLETE
Funding Source
SPECIAL GRANT
Reporting Frequency
Annual
Accession No.
0192609
Grant No.
2002-34381-12468
Cumulative Award Amt.
(N/A)
Proposal No.
2002-03768
Multistate No.
(N/A)
Project Start Date
Sep 1, 2002
Project End Date
Aug 31, 2005
Grant Year
2002
Program Code
[MX]- (N/A)
Recipient Organization
GLADES CROP CARE, INC.
949 TURNER QUAY
JUPITER,FL 33458
Performing Department
(N/A)
Non Technical Summary
Pepper weevils are a difficult pest to control in the southern United States. A great many chemicals are often needed to stop a 30-40oss in pepper yield. This project examines the feasibility of using an alternative integrated approach of cultural, biological and least toxic chemical controls for pepper weevil management in growers' fields.
Animal Health Component
85%
Research Effort Categories
Basic
5%
Applied
85%
Developmental
10%
Classification

Knowledge Area (KA)Subject of Investigation (SOI)Field of Science (FOS)Percent
2111461113020%
2131461114010%
2151461113020%
2161461113050%
Knowledge Area
211 - Insects, Mites, and Other Arthropods Affecting Plants; 215 - Biological Control of Pests Affecting Plants; 216 - Integrated Pest Management Systems; 213 - Weeds Affecting Plants;

Subject Of Investigation
1461 - Peppers;

Field Of Science
1130 - Entomology and acarology; 1140 - Weed science;
Goals / Objectives
1. Reduction or elimination of pepper weevil hosts. This will include to the extent possible, all nightshade in or near the pepper fields and the quick destruction of the crop after the pepper crop is harvested. 2. Augmentation of a biological control agent. Release of the parasitoid Catolaccus hunteri into pepper fileds and nightshade on a weekly basis. Release sites in both areas will be determined using pepper weevil pheromone traps to discern where weevil populations are intially concentrated. 3. Use of least toxic pesticides for pepper weevil control. The use of effective, predator friendly insecticides will be used in this system. 4. Monitoring pepper weevil movements with pheromone traps and use of GPS/GIS technology to map weevil movement and nightshade weed locations.
Project Methods
Three commercial production pepper farms will be selected to run the alternative management plan. Each of the 3 farms has seperated fields in which we will conduct the alternative controls in two fields and the grower standard control in the other fields. Crop destruction will occur as soon as harvest is completed in April-May. Nightshade weeds will be vigorously controlled in the areas of the alternative control program. Starting in the summer when there are no pepper plants in the fields and nightshade is the only host present, parasitic wasps will be released at the rate of 1,500/ha in areas of greatest concentration of nightshade that were not destroyed. In the summer 1,000 nightshade berries will be collected and held for the possible emergence of the pepper weevil or Catolaccus, the parasitoid. During the pepper growing season 500 pepper fruit will be collected in 4 different areas of the alternative control fields and also in the grower standard fields. These will be held for the possible emergence of weevil or parasitoid. The chemical controls cryolite and imidacloprid will be used in the alternative control areas for control of pepper weevil as these two chemicals are efficacious for pepper weevil and non-detrimental to the parasitoid. Pheromone traps will be used to monitor pepper weevil populations in the alternative and the grower's standard areas. GPS and GIS will be used to monitor and map locations of pepper weevil infestations and movement of weevils into and out of fields and also areas of nightshade.

Progress 09/01/02 to 08/31/05

Outputs
This proposal sought biologically based solutions for pepper weevil (PEW) management. The pest results in more than $25 million of annual losses in 4 southern states with OP and carbamate pesticides the principle control approach. Four tactics were explored in the alternative biologically based program: 1) Elimination of pepper weevil hosts, 2) Augmentation via a biological control agent, 3) Usage of least toxic pesticides and 4) Monitoring nightshade areas and pepper weevil activity. PEW activity via pheromone/yellow sticky traps and scouting observations, nightshade incidence, recoverable Catalaccus hunteri in nightshade berries and pepper fruits was monitored from 2000 to 2005 on three commercial pepper farms in southwest Florida. Catalaccus hunteri, an idiobiont parasitoid, was released into selected weedy nightshade areas from 2003 to 2005 and infestation levels were determined in harvested nightshade berries and pepper pods. Our results show that by using a fully integrated approach of controlling nightshade, releasing the C. hunteri parasitoid, monitoring the movement of PEW and using reduced risk insecticides, PEW can be economically controlled. The key to success is judicious management of the nightshade weed, chemically, mechanically or both. When nightshade vegetation is not amenable to eradication, it becomes a candidate for the C. hunteri release program. When 1000 to 2000 wasps/A were released on a bi-weekly basis into nightshade vegetation, subsequent yellow sticky trap monitored PEW populations were reduced 76, 68 and 56 % by the third year on the 3 farms. With the reduced population size of PEW available to migrate into the pepper fields, the reduced risk chemicals satisfactorily controlled the in-field infestations. Scouting is necessary throughout the season and during the fallow for the pepper crop and the nightshade vegetation to anticipate, detect and evaluate infestations for best decision-making. This truly integrated program will work extremely well on an area-wide management basis.

Impacts
This study will enable pepper growers in the southern United States the ability to control pepper weevil without relying on a multitude of chemical applications. We used an integrated approach of biological, cultural, reduced risk pesticides, and scouting to achieve our management goal of reducing pepper weevil infestations by 60-80%. We showed that area-wide pest management was not only possible with this pest, but necessary for its proper management. Georeferencing can be used in growers fields to not only track the movement of pepper weevils, but to anticipate their infestation point. This enabled properly timed and selected reduced-risk chemical applications to be used precisely and only where needed for control to take place.

Publications

  • No publications reported this period