Final Report for FNE93-020
Project Information
Note to readers, attached is the complete final report for FNE93-020.
The awarding of the grant provided the impetus for many things to happen. First of all, we grew two crops of European Cucumbers successfully. Cost wise, we spent a little more on insect control than in the past but learned some things that will allow us to lower that expense as we get more experience. We had some trouble on the first crop because we didn't get bring in the spider mite predators soon enough and the spider mite got the upper hand. The second time we started a crop we knew what to look for and things went more smoothly.
This year we have used beneficial insects successfully on a crop of tomatoes which we have harvesting since June 1. We also tried the approach on a greenhouse of sweet bell peppers and were not successful in controlling the aphids.
People have shown a lot of interest in the concept of using beneficial insects, however we have no found any outstanding markets of pesticide free produce.