UF Study Shows How Strawberry Growers Can Use Less Pesticide To Control Destructive Chilli Thrips

Florida strawberry growers can use less pesticide and save money as they try to control a mighty pest known as chilli thrips, University of Florida research shows.

An invasive pest in the southeastern United States, chilli thrips was introduced to the United States from Southeast Asia. The first report in Florida came in 1991 in Okeechobee County and then in 1994 in Highlands County.

Sriyanka Lahiri, a UF/IFAS assistant professor of entomology, focuses on the potential damage chilli thrips can cause to Florida’s $500 million-a-year strawberry industry. Strawberries grow mostly in Hillsborough County, but also in Manatee and Polk counties.

In the newly published study, Lahiri and her colleagues found chilli thrips prefer to aggregate in about a 100-meter radius outside the center of strawberry fields. That’s because in the field-border area, chilli thrips are close to adjacent woods, where they can easily live during the summer and reinfest during the next strawberry season.

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