AgroaldeaTECHNICAL OS recognize the "Unthinkable" end this INSECT.
Tuta absoluta plague affecting tomato crops on the island of Ibiza can not be eradicated and, in fact, Consell Insular technicians have given up the fight for its eradication.
The head of the section of the Consell Agriculture, Javier Pablos, He said that "we must learn to live with this insect the rest of our lives". Island tomato crops are affected in their entirety by this plague since coming to the island a few years ago.
Pablos said that "within a few years this pest will have acquired a certain equilibrium with its environment and will be one more plague, but it is unthinkable eradicate ". Having no natural enemies, This insect attacks very violently crops.
Treatments that are being used to combat Tuta basically consist of chemicals. But from the Consell they subtracted considering the use of a biological product that reduce the use of pesticides that are intensive.
Es Canar where the farm is, in early July 2007, the pest was detected and quickly spread through the greenhouse where a farmer had planted more than eight thousand tomateras.
Andres Alonso, technical director of the Cooperative Agroeivissa, I affirm that “throughout the island they have been installed over 500 traps designed to eliminate this larva, without much result because it has managed to become a pest ".
Since the advent of Tuta absoluta has increased fivefold the number of discarded tomatoes for sale, which means that a 20 percent of tomatoes arrive at the cooperative are affected by the plague.
Tuta Absoluta or tomato moth.
It is a small family Lepidoptera of gelechiidae coming from South America. The main guests are tomatoes and potatoes, as well as other solanaceous species wild or cultivated as the Eggplant.
This pest has a high reproductive potential, reaching of 10 to 12 generations year. Adults are nocturnal and usually hide among the foliage during the day. The females make implementations of eggs on the aerial part of plants.
After passing by 4 Larval States, the larvae pupate in the soil, on the surface of leaves or even within the galleries, Depending on the environmental conditions. At hatching eggs, the neonate larvae penetrate into the fruits of tomato, in the leaves or stems that feed on creating holes and galleries. The fruits can be attacked since its formation, and can lead to its further rot by secondary pathogens.
On leaves, the larvae feed only on the mesophyll tissue, leaving the intact epidermis. The mines are irregular and subsequently is necrotic. The galleries on the stem alter the general development of affected plants.
The plague can affect the plants at any stage of their development, from nursery to adult plants, Although the larvae prefer to attack the apical buds, flowers or newly set fruit. This allows a quick observation of the symptoms in the field.
For the control of the pest are developing different strategies of Integrated Pest Control, by combining the use of synthetic pheromones for monitoring of populations, with plant protection treatments at appropriate times.
As cultural measures start and destroy all the affected material is recommended, as well as the remainders post harvest cultivation, rotation with crops that are not Solanaceae, etc. It is also advisable to carry out a monitoring and elimination of other plants guest that could accommodate the plague, especially of the wild species that are sensitive to their attack.