About beneficials, Michigan orchards

Integrated pest management resources for Michigan

IPM Scouting in Stone Fruits

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About beneficials

Resident beneficial organisms (or natural enemies) can enhance control of many pest arthropods, often providing good suppression of many indirect pests (aphids, mites, and leafminers). The best way to conserve these beneficials is to use caution when selecting insecticides and timing applications. Beneficials are often more susceptible to broad-spectrum insecticides (organophosphates, carbamates and pyrethroids) than are the pests they attack. The availability of flowering plants within the orchard can also help conserve beneficials, since the adult stage of many predators and parasites feeds on nectar and pollen.

Learn more about these beneficials

Generalist predators (Assassin bugs, Damsel bugs, Minute pirate bugs)
Parasitoids (Braconids, Eulophids, Tachinid fly)
Predatory mites (Zetzellia mali, Amblyseius fallacis, Agistemus fleschneri, Typhlodromus pyri)
Predators of soft-bodied insects (Green lacewing, Lady beetles, Syrphid fly, Orange cecido-myiid fly)

Additional information

About natural enemies (from Fruit Crop Ecology and Management)
Identifying natural enemies web site
Enhancing beneficial insects with native plants web site
For more monitoring information and evaluation of available pesticides:
Michigan Fruit Management Guide
MSU Diagnostic Services for assistance in pest identification.
MSU Fruit Crop Advisory Team Alert newsletters for current pest/crop conditions.

This information was developed from A Pocket Guide for IPM Scouting in Stone Fruits by David Epstein, Larry J. Gut, Alan L. Jones and Kimberly Maxson-Stein. Purchase this in a pocket-sized guide for reference in the orchard from MSU Extension (publication E-2840).

The MSU IPM Program maintains this site as an access point to pest management information at MSU. The IPM Program is administered within the Department of Entomology, fueled by research from the Michigan Agricultural Experiment Station, delivered to citizens through MSU Extension, and proud to be a part of Project GREEEN.
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Updated 7/24/07