Florida strawberry producers would benefit from transplants arriving from distant sites already possessing Phytoseiulus persimilis Athias-Henriot (Acari:Phytoseiidae) predators of twospotted spider mite, Tetranychus urticae Koch (Acari:Tetranychidae). Transplant producers would benefit from increased revenue accrued from the value added component. Strawberry transplants were infested with twospotted spider mites and predators and were subjected to simulated shipping and storage conditions at 4oC for various periods up to 13 days in two similar experiments. Survival of predators was recorded and linear and quadratic relationships between independent variable (days of simulated post-harvest storage (X)) and the dependent variable (percentage of live predators (Y)) were examined. The relationship was best described as a quadratic one in both experiments where Y=97.957-7.93X+0.255X2 (R2=0.841) (Experiment 1) and Y=98.568-9.584X+0.353X2 (R2=0.943) (Experiment 2). The data demonstrate that P. persimilis predatory mites used for twospotted spider mite control can survive the post-harvest storage and shipping conditions well for the expected periods and could establish in fruiting fields to offer biological control of spider mites there. Strawberry transplant producers can add value to their commodity and strawberry fruit producers can obtain transplants possessing biological control agents for twospotted spider mites.
Species 1: Acari Phytoseiidae Phytoseiulus persimilis
Species 2: Acari Tetranychidae Tetranychus urticae
Keywords: cold storage, shipping
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