Aphids on Fruit Crops

Natural enemies and environmental factors limit populations of insect and mite pests in natural ecosystems. When natural enemies are killed by human's actions in any habitat or when pests are introduced to new habitats without their natural enemies, natural control often fails and results in pest outbreaks. Biological control of pest species by predators, parasitoids, and pathogens has been a cornerstone of IPM since its inception. It has been difficult to utilize the full potential of biological control in tree fruit and other crops that receive periodic sprays of broad-spectrum pesticides and/or have high-quality standards. The best pest targets for biological control in tree fruits are generally the secondary foliage-feeding pests that do not cause direct fruit injury (i.e., mites, aphids, and leafminers). Populations of pests that feed directly on the fruit (i.e., codling moth, Oriental fruit moth, and plum curculio) generally cannot be tolerated at levels high enough for biological control agents to reproduce.

For more information, please see this Penn State Tree Frui Production Guide Web page.

Penn State Horticulture Department

For more information on this subject, Please visit the College of Agricultural Sciences Publications Web site.

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