D3058: Evaluation of insectary plants as an alternative pest management practice in vegetable production

One of the crucial approaches to integrated pest management (IPM) is conservation biological control, which involves modifying or protecting a habitat or ecosystem by promoting flowering plant diversity and increasing natural enemy populations. The excessive use of chemical pesticides in vegetable production has created environmental, human health, and economic risks. Insectary plants produce nectar and pollen and draw beneficial arthropods towards them; thus, they can become an alternative to chemical pesticides for arthropod pest control in crop production. Though there have been studies conducted on using insectary plants in other regions of the United States, their suitability as a pest management technique is still to be explored in the southeastern states, including Tennessee. Our objective was to evaluate the suitability of various flowering plants in attracting arthropod natural enemies using six different flowering plants, buckwheat, sunflower, zinnia, marigold, and sweet alyssum, and a crop plant (green beans) (control). We selected these plants based on their USDA hardiness zones that match Tennessee's hardiness zones. We conducted this experiment in 2023 in Nashville, TN, using a randomized complete block design with four blocks. We used the field gradient as the blocking factor and randomly assigned the treatments on each block. We conducted weekly sampling once the plants were four weeks old after transplanting. Plants were evaluated for pests and natural enemies using plant tissue collection, beat sheet sampling, sweep net sampling, pitfall traps, and visual observation. Specimens of arthropods were collected and identified. We will discuss some of the results.