Professor of Cooperative Extension University of California Parlier, California
Planococcus ficus is an invasive pest in California and one of the most important pests of grapes in the region, in large part because it vectors grape diseases. Parasitoids were released in California for classical biological control of P. ficus in the early 2000s and two of them have become established in the region. One of them, Anagyrus vladimiri, is commercially available, and commonly used, for augmentative releases for P. ficus. The efficacy of parasitoid releases, however, has not been tested at scales growers would use. Our objective was to assess the effectiveness of parasitoid releases at field scales for P. ficus suppression.
