Abstract:
In greenhouse conditions in Ukraine, various species of phytophagous pests cause significant damage to crops, including cucumbers. The most widespread and harmful among them are representatives of the classes Insecta and Arachnida. Mites of the class Arachnida are represented by two species from the family Tetranychidae, with the twospotted spider mite (Tetranychus urticae Koch) being the most common polyphagous pest of vegetable crops. This pest has over 900 host plants, including 150 economically important agricultural and ornamental species. Effective pest population control and mitigation of their harmfulness in greenhouses requires the implementation of modern integrated plant protection systems that include organizational, preventive, agronomic, biological, chemical, and quarantine measures combined into a unified strategy. The application of biological preparations such as Actofit BT + Liposan, Boverin BT + Liposan, and Bitoxibacillin BT + Liposan reduced plant infestation rates by 4.1, 4.8, and 5.4 times during the flowering initiation phase, and by 3.7, 3.5, and 4.3 times, respectively, during the beginning of fruiting. The technical efficacy of these products was 75.7%, 79.3%, and 81.6% at the first assessment and 74.1%, 72.2%, and 76.8% at the second. The efficacy of the entomoacariphagous complex was slightly lower compared to biological insectoacaricides, amounting to 61.5% and 69.7%, depending on the timing of application. In the case of exceeding the economic threshold of harmfulness (ETH) by
the two-spotted spider mite during the cultivation of the universal ultra-early parthenocarpic cucumber hybrid Kibria F1 RZ in a summer–autumn rotation within a block-type greenhouse, the application of chemical control is recommended. Specifically, a twofold treatment before the onset of fruiting using an insectoacaricide based on the innovative active ingredient spirotetramat from the new ketoenol chemical class (Movento 100 SC, SC at 0.75 L/ha) provided high technical efficacy (94.6%), with the amount of preserved yield reaching 8.1 kg/m².
