The impact of plant essential oils and fine mesh row covers on flea beetle (Chrysomelidae) management in brassicaceous greens production

Robert Brockman; Ryan Kuesel; Kendall Archer; Kyla O’Hearn; Neil Wilson; Delia Scott; Mark Williams; Ricardo Bessin; David Gonthier

doi:10.3390/insects11100714

The impact of plant essential oils and fine mesh row covers on flea beetle (Chrysomelidae) management in brassicaceous greens production

Robert Brockman
, Ryan Kuesel
, Kendall Archer
, Kyla O’Hearn
, Neil Wilson
, Delia Scott
, Mark Williams
, Ricardo Bessin
, David Gonthier

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

12 Scopus citations

Abstract

Brassicaceous leafy greens are an important crop for small growers but are difficult to produce due to damage by flea beetles. Flea beetles are problematic for growers as they chew many small holes through leaves rendering produce unmarketable. We tested the efficacy of several essential oils, the woven-mesh row cover ProtekNet, and the spunbonded row cover Agribon, compared to organic and conventional insecticides and no spray controls in the spring and fall of 2019. We found that the two row cover treatments (Agribon and ProtekNet) provided the best control of flea beetles and associated damage. Thyme oil was highly phytotoxic and killed the crop entirely and rosemary and neem essential oils caused mild phytotoxic burns. Organic insecticides rarely performed better than the no spray control. While conventional insecticides controlled most flea beetles, the crop was often still too highly damaged to sell. The results of our study suggest row covers offer producers an effective method of flea beetle control that reduces their dependence on insecticides for conventional and organic production.

Original language	English
Article number	714
Pages (from-to)	1-16
Number of pages	16
Journal	Insects
Volume	11
Issue number	10
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.3390/insects11100714
State	Published - Oct 2020

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.

Funding

Funding: This research and the Article Processing Charge were both funded by the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, U.S. Department of Agriculture Hatch Grant (KY008079) and the Kentucky Department of Agriculture Specialty Crop Block Grant (PON2 035 1900003060 AM180100XXXXG007). Acknowledgments: We would like to thank Daniel Potter for commenting on project design as well as Kantima Thongjued, Nathaniel Colten, Kathleen Fiske, and Karina Garcia for reviewing this manuscript. We would also like to thank Steve Diver and Jay Tucker at the University of Kentucky’s Horticulture Research Farm for all their assistance and guidance with plot setup and maintenance. We could not have done this project without funding from the Kentucky Department of Agriculture and through Hatch funding.

Funders	Funder number
Kentucky Department of Agriculture	PON2 035 1900003060 AM180100XXXXG007
U.S. Department of Agriculture	KY008079
US Department of Agriculture National Institute of Food and Agriculture, Agriculture and Food Research Initiative

Keywords

Agribon
Arugula
Chaetocnema concinna
Flea beetle
Mizuna mustard
Organic agriculture
Phyllotreta bipustulata
Phyllotreta cruciferae
Phyllotreta striolata
ProtekNet
Row cover

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Insect Science

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10.3390/insects11100714

Cite this

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title = "The impact of plant essential oils and fine mesh row covers on flea beetle (Chrysomelidae) management in brassicaceous greens production",

abstract = "Brassicaceous leafy greens are an important crop for small growers but are difficult to produce due to damage by flea beetles. Flea beetles are problematic for growers as they chew many small holes through leaves rendering produce unmarketable. We tested the efficacy of several essential oils, the woven-mesh row cover ProtekNet, and the spunbonded row cover Agribon, compared to organic and conventional insecticides and no spray controls in the spring and fall of 2019. We found that the two row cover treatments (Agribon and ProtekNet) provided the best control of flea beetles and associated damage. Thyme oil was highly phytotoxic and killed the crop entirely and rosemary and neem essential oils caused mild phytotoxic burns. Organic insecticides rarely performed better than the no spray control. While conventional insecticides controlled most flea beetles, the crop was often still too highly damaged to sell. The results of our study suggest row covers offer producers an effective method of flea beetle control that reduces their dependence on insecticides for conventional and organic production.",

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author = "Robert Brockman and Ryan Kuesel and Kendall Archer and Kyla O{\textquoteright}Hearn and Neil Wilson and Delia Scott and Mark Williams and Ricardo Bessin and David Gonthier",

note = "Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2020 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.",

year = "2020",

month = oct,

doi = "10.3390/insects11100714",

language = "English",

volume = "11",

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AU - Brockman, Robert

AU - Kuesel, Ryan

AU - Archer, Kendall

AU - O’Hearn, Kyla

AU - Wilson, Neil

AU - Scott, Delia

AU - Williams, Mark

AU - Bessin, Ricardo

AU - Gonthier, David

PY - 2020/10

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N2 - Brassicaceous leafy greens are an important crop for small growers but are difficult to produce due to damage by flea beetles. Flea beetles are problematic for growers as they chew many small holes through leaves rendering produce unmarketable. We tested the efficacy of several essential oils, the woven-mesh row cover ProtekNet, and the spunbonded row cover Agribon, compared to organic and conventional insecticides and no spray controls in the spring and fall of 2019. We found that the two row cover treatments (Agribon and ProtekNet) provided the best control of flea beetles and associated damage. Thyme oil was highly phytotoxic and killed the crop entirely and rosemary and neem essential oils caused mild phytotoxic burns. Organic insecticides rarely performed better than the no spray control. While conventional insecticides controlled most flea beetles, the crop was often still too highly damaged to sell. The results of our study suggest row covers offer producers an effective method of flea beetle control that reduces their dependence on insecticides for conventional and organic production.

AB - Brassicaceous leafy greens are an important crop for small growers but are difficult to produce due to damage by flea beetles. Flea beetles are problematic for growers as they chew many small holes through leaves rendering produce unmarketable. We tested the efficacy of several essential oils, the woven-mesh row cover ProtekNet, and the spunbonded row cover Agribon, compared to organic and conventional insecticides and no spray controls in the spring and fall of 2019. We found that the two row cover treatments (Agribon and ProtekNet) provided the best control of flea beetles and associated damage. Thyme oil was highly phytotoxic and killed the crop entirely and rosemary and neem essential oils caused mild phytotoxic burns. Organic insecticides rarely performed better than the no spray control. While conventional insecticides controlled most flea beetles, the crop was often still too highly damaged to sell. The results of our study suggest row covers offer producers an effective method of flea beetle control that reduces their dependence on insecticides for conventional and organic production.

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KW - Organic agriculture

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KW - Phyllotreta cruciferae

KW - Phyllotreta striolata

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KW - Row cover

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The impact of plant essential oils and fine mesh row covers on flea beetle (Chrysomelidae) management in brassicaceous greens production

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Funding

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Access to Document

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