The Efficacy of Compost Tea as an Eco-friendly Alternative on Tetranychus urticae and Icerya aegyptiaca and the Indirect Impacts on Chrysoperla carnea

Abstract

This study highlights compost tea as an effective and eco-friendly option for controlling Icerya aegyptiaca and Tetranychus urticae while being safer for beneficial predators like Chrysoperla carnea. Etoxazole is an effective acaricide for controlling mites, especially spider mites, by preventing them from molting and stopping egg development. Etoxazole is a good choice for integrated pest management because it is selective and safe for beneficial insects. Compost tea (at the concentrations of 50%, 60% and 70%) was applied (as foliar spray, soil addition and mixture of foliar spray+ soil addition) on rosemary plants, Rosmarinus officinalis L. infested with the Egyptian mealybug, Icerya aegyptiaca (Douglas) and common bean plants, Phaseolus vulgaris L. infested with the two-spotted spider mite, Tetranychus urticae Koch in addition to treated the mentioned pests by the pesticide and acaricide treatments, bifenthrin and etoxazole, respectively under greenhouse conditions.  Although the populations of the two tested pests, I. aegyptiaca and T. urticae, were significantly reduced. The compost tea and bifenthrin was the most effective on I. aegyptiaca. Bifenthrin had an indirect effect on the predator of C. carnea, and showing a clear negative effect on the tested larvae unlike the compost tea treatments, where overall mortality rates of the predator larvae were often less than 50%.