Ontario poinsettia growers saw a surge in whitefly pressure last season.During a discussion at the Sawaya Gardens’ poinsettia trial open house in Waterford, Ont. last November, a number of growers attested to high whitefly (Bemisia tabaci) pressure at various points during the pastseason. Some found them in earlier weeks, others in later shipments.For Jeffery’s Greenhouses in the Niagara region of Ont., they observed at least five times as much whitefly pressure as they did in previous years while still on the rooting bench, early on in propagation. Shipments to their greenhouse were hit-and-miss. Some turned out to be highly infested while others were completely clean. Head, Grower Albert Grimm says they were forced to throw away a few hundred cuttings after thoroughly inspecting each cutting tray. Based on their initial observations from weeks 30 to 32, they ramped up their biocontrol program accordingly and doubled their spending to curb a potentially devastating whitefly problem later on in the season.
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