PLANT PARASITES: WHAT TYPES EXIST, HOW THEY ATTACK AND HOW TO KEEP THEM UNDER CONTROL

Plant parasites are a real threat to any gardening or horticulture enthusiast. If they are not kept under control, they can thwart all efforts to grow and care for plants, compromising their health, at times permanently.

Plant parasites come in a range of forms: mould, fungi, mites and an extensive range of insect species target plants for food or reproduction, harming them in the process.

Many of these enemies are difficult to see, and when the visible signs of their presence appear, it is often too late to act. Prevention and control are therefore the best defence against plant parasites, and in order to be successful, it is good to know your enemies.

The most common plant parasites include leafminer moths, whitefly, thrips and aphids.

Leafminer moths are part of a more extensive family that includes other pests such as clothes moths and food moths. Similar in appearance to the latter, they lay their eggs on a wide range of plant and flower species, where their larvae can feed when they hatch.

Whitefly cause both direct and indirect harm to plants. First and foremost, they feed on sap, and as a result of their feeding, they produce honeydew, a sweet substance that favours the spread of fungi that in turn attack the plant.

Thrips are insects that feed on plant sap, compromising plant structure and health, and are characterised by rapid reproduction and growth cycles, quickly leading to serious infestation, worsened by their ability to fly and therefore pass from one plant to another.

Aphids act in a similar manner to whitefly and are able to quickly spread from one plant to another, attacking both fruit and flowers.

Monitor traps are an effective solution in the fight against these parasites.

Exploiting the ability of parasites to identify plants to attack on the basis of colour, these monitor traps use coloured double-sided adhesive strips to attract insects, which then become stuck. The result is that as well as defending plants, it is possible to identify the dominant pest and choose more specific or aggressive methods to remove them.

Monitor traps do not use active agents or dangerous substances that can harm the environment or the health of people.

IGO provides contract production of monitor traps for plant parasites made of biodegradable, water- and weather-resistant material, meaning that they can be used outdoors.

For more than 15 years, IGO has been a certified Medical and Surgical Device Manufacturer and provides the contract manufacture of insecticide products for domestic and civil use on substrates such as cellulose, granules or mixtures, and various types of liquid solutions to which one or more active substances have been added.

Browse our catalogue of monitor traps and contact us for further information.