As new CEA producers sprout up around the country, there have been almost as many advertising claims made about ‘pesticide-free’ facilities. While that’s comforting to think and read about, it’s important to keep in mind that nature abhors a vacuum. Especially when it comes to 6- and 8-legged pests. While modifications can be made in CEA environments to accommodate vegetables, herbs, cannabis, or flowers, the humidity, temperature, absence of natural biological controls and abundant food can attract, sustain, and explode pest populations. Even as CEA growers work diligently to prevent pests from penetrating their
carefully crafted biosecurity protocols, chances are good that at some point arthropod visitors will show up uninvited. It would be a rare facility indeed that didn’t have to manage at least one concerning pest.
Bringing in plants or cuttings is a common way that pests are introduced. For that reason, inspecting and quarantining new material is well worth the time investment. Regular and systematic scouting of your plants will ensure that you catch infestations in the earliest stages allowing you to find and manage pests before you have to bring in the big, synthetic chemistry guns.
Biological control agents (BCAs) are often the first line of attack. However, sometimes the cost, time, or feasibility to implement biocontrol necessitates additional control measures. Biorationals work in tandem with most BCAs and break down completely within a matter of days to ensure there are no pesticide residues on the finished product. That’s something you and your customers can feel good about.
Products such as BioSafe Systems’ BioCeres WP (the entomopathogen Beauveria bassiana), AzaGuard (full-spectrum azadirachtin), and BT NOW (lepidopteran specific Bacillus thuringiensis) have only a 4-hour re-entry interval and can be applied up to the day of harvest. In fact, successful biocontrol programs often incorporate both biorational products plus the use of compatible biocontrol agents, whether via cutting dip, fogging, spraying or drenching. Combining multiple tools to ensure all stages of the pest are managed can minimize the extent and time to mitigate an inevitable infestation.
