Location: Temperate Tree Fruit and Vegetable Research
Project Number: 2092-22000-022-033-S
Project Type: Non-Assistance Cooperative Agreement
Start Date: Jun 1, 2023
End Date: May 31, 2025
Objective:
Determine the role of whirligig mite in commercial potatoes as source of biological control.
Approach:
USDA-ARS scientists in Wapato, WAc and Washington State University Cooperators in both Wapato, WA and Pasco, WA will describe the phenology of whirligig mite in potatoes by sampling three fields at regular intervals between June and harvest in September.
Three sampling tools will be compared, consisting of straw-filled mesh bags, the same bags but with a food supplement, and plant shaking.
Prey fed upon by the mite in fields will be examined using molecular methods to detect prey DNA harbored by field-collected mites.
