This project aims to reduce agrichemical applications on greenhouse tomatoes by revitalising Integrated Pest Management (IPM) crop protection practices within the New Zealand greenhouse tomato industry. Please scroll down this page to find Grower resources developed from this project.

Major disruption to IPM in New Zealand glasshouse tomato production was caused by the incursion of the Tomato potato psyllid in the summer of 2005/06. The IPM programme had to revert from use of biological control agents to chemical control specifically for TPP. This, in turn, disrupted the performance of what had been successful biocontrol of Greenhouse whitefly with the parasitic wasp Encarsia formosa.

If successful, this project would achieve biocontrol of the two major economic pests of greenhouse tomato production, Tomato potato psyllid and Greenhouse whitefly, enabling growers to use an IPM crop protection programme again.

The project goals will be achieved by:

• identifying the economic risks at grower level to using an IPM programme and how these can be mitigated;
• providing growers with a guide detailing the ideal methods of pest control for their crop; and
• incorporating the use of biological control agents into crop protection programmes for New Zealand greenhouse tomatoes.

Read an article about this project here.

Activity to date

To account for variations in region and operational scale, a range of host sites have been used in both the North and South Islands. The project has also used a number of different biological control agents (BCAs) with the aim of finding the right combination to achieve target pest management. Findings have been positive to date, and another full crop cycle will be monitored to further demonstrate efficacy of learnings to date.

Read first season findings from the project in this technical update published in NZ Grower magazine.

Grower resources

Resources from this project have been brought together to form a Greenhouse Tomato Integrated Pest Management Guide.

The material in this guide is intended to provide basic understanding and guidelines as to how to identify  and control the main pests that growers have identified as being issues in New Zealand tomato crops.

It contains both action cards and a decision tree for the main pests encountered in New Zealand’s
Greenhouse Tomato Crops. Action cards give tips on identification, life cycles, potential control measures, scouting tips and some, what to do’s. Supporting this material is a series of “how to” videos.

Links to all of these resources can be found here on the TomatoesNZ website.

Watch a video case study telling the story of the project below.