Strawberry Research Website

Entomology research had made it practical for farmers to chose biological control on their strawberry farms through developing direct biological control methods for spider mite management, by elucidating elements of control for aphids and other pests that are compatible with biological control of spider mites, and by developing compatible miticidal methods for spider mites for farmers to know that they can "rescue" the crop if there is a failure in biological control.  In the most recent strawberry crop season, biological control of spider mites was practiced on over 25% of the crop area.  Spider mite control on most of the reminder of the area was made with miticide programs developed in part through this research that emphasized environmentally, worker, and consumer friendly pesticides.