Effect of pesticide mixtures in controlling western flower thrips (Thysanoptera: Thripidae)

Greenhouse managers mix together pesticides to broaden the spectrum of pest control and to reduce pesticide and labor costs. However, the efficacy of pesticide mixtures has not been well-documented. This study assesses how mixtures of commercially available insecticides and miticides in two, three, and four-way combinations affected the control of western flower thrips, Frankliniella occidentalis Pergande, in greenhouse experiments and in a laboratory bioassay. The pesticides screened in the greenhouse experiments and laboratory bioassay were spinosad, abamectin, bifenazate, azadirachtin and imidacloprid. Each pesticide was applied at the maximum label-recommended rate. In the greenhouse experiments, transvaal daisy (GerberajamesoniiH. Bolus ex Hook. f) and lisianthus (Eustoma grandiflorum G. Don ex Sweet) flowers were infested with 25 adult western flower thrips (mixture of females and males). Flowers were then sprayed with the designated treatments. After 72 h, flowers were dissected to assess the numbers of live and dead western flower thrips. In the laboratory bioassay, chrysanthemum (Dendranthema grandiflora Tzvelev) leaf sections, treated with solutions of each pesticide and all possible combinations, were exposed to 15 adult western flower thrips. The numbers of live and dead western flower thrips were assessed after 48 h. For all three experiments, we were not able to identify any antagonistic pesticide combinations. All treatments with spinosad, including the individual application and pesticide mixtures, resulted in high mortality of western flower thrips. Our data suggest that combinations of spinosad with the other pesticides tested do not affect the efficacy of spinosad in controlling western flower thrips. This information is important to greenhouse managers who wish to mix pesticides and still control western flower thrips in addition to the other plant-feeding arthropods found in greenhouses.