The impact of visual cards on pest populations in greenhouse tomato production

Abstract

Control of tomato pests in greenhouses is con-nected with the difficulties that are related to resistance development, the limited number of available active ingredients, and the accumulation of unwanted and illegal residues in fruits. The increased market demand for tomatoes produced in accordance with integrated pest management principles requires new methods in pest control. One of the alternative methods is mass trapping using colored sticky cards. In a study conducted during 2004 and 2005, a set of blue and yellow sticky cards were placed in an experimental greenhouse area. The goal of the study was to investigate the impact of sticky cards on the population abundance of the most important tomato pests (whiteflies, thrips and aphids) through the entire tomato growing period, in order to determine whether these cards are an effective control tool for key pests in greenhouse production. The method of mass trapping using one yellow and one blue sticky card per 4–5 m2 resulted in high catches and a low abundance of pests on plants, and it had the same efficiency as chemical pest control in preventing damages. Setting up a large number of visual colored cards can be used to control pests and prevent damages in greenhouse tomato production.