Having the purpose to increment the biological control of European red mites Panonychus ulmi in apple tree, a control strategy was proposed based on phytoseids Neoseiulus californicus in a greenhouse, on successive inoculative releases and use of acaricides, in a commercial apple orchard of Rincão das Flores Agropastoril (Agriflor), in Vacaria, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, among 1992-1996. The red mite samples guided both phytoseid releasing and transfering from the greenhouse and unwanted branches pruned, to apples trees with high population rates of European red mites. The inseticide effects on phytoseids were used to choose the pesticides for pest control. During the first winter season, the association between acaricides and phytoseids was able to reduce overwinter eggs, about 1,3 eggs/bud unit, while in the control area had 59,8 eggs. In the second year, the reduction of European red mite populations was significant. After the following two years, the control of European red mites was done only using the phytoseids. In the years that followed its introduction, N. californicus resurged on the apple trees.
phytoseid; apple orchard; European red mites; biological control; mass rearing
