Greenhouse whitefly control through the combined use of the colour attraction system with the parasite waspEncarsia formosa [Hym.: Aphelinidae]

The combined use of colour attraction (yellow sticky plates) andEncarsia formosa (Gahan) parasites reduced the greenhouse whiteflyTrialeurodes vaporariorum (Westwood) population in a spring tomato crop to an extremely low level. Whiteflies were strongly attracted to yellow sticky plates while the parasite,E. formosa, was not attracted so long as suitable and sufficient hosts were present. As the numbers of whiteflies declined, parasites were increasingly trapped by the plates. The percent parasitization increased continuously during the experiment, reaching about 90%, indicating the complete compatibility of colour attraction and biological control.