Floriculture is generally carried out in absence of rotations, with high planting density, in abundantly irrigated and fertilized substrates.
Here at the La Marca Flowers, the plants of our cut flowers are situated inside greenhouses, in a protected environment, with raised pallets. These structures, even if they are quite expensive, allow us to optimize the action of the disinfection means of the soil/substrates, as well as allowing the use of soilless and other cultivation techniques.
Furthermore, to reduce the spread of many pathogens/parasites, we dedicate ourselves to weeding out weeds and eliminating plants in cultivation as soon as they show the first symptoms of disease, in order to eliminate any source of infection.
More and more farmers are using biological control, this consists in the conservation and use of organisms or substances already present in nature, useful for limiting and fighting plant parasites.
It can be achieved through the protection and enhancement of the antagonists (fungi, bacteria, insects…); through the use of substances of natural origin.
Some microorganisms have a negative effect on the onset and course of diseases, sometimes exploiting different mechanisms of action simultaneously, including: competition for nutrients and/or space; the production of toxic substances and hyperparasitism (parasites of other parasites).
Here at the La Marca Flowers we use Macro-Mite and Swirski Ulti-Mite supplied to us by the Koppert firm as antagonists, used for the biological control of some species of thrips and whiteflies.
The fight against thrips often represents a big problem regarding various crops, but thanks to its research centers and years of studies and experience, Koppert proposes a new auxiliary for the fight against thrips: macrocheles Robustulus, distributed under the commercial name of Macro- Mild. It is a mite that actively preys on various species of thrips, affecting their pupal stage, which takes place in the ground. This is distributed evenly over the soil/substrate and in order to obtain the best results, the soil should be moist, rich in organic matter and have a soft texture, with a minimum temperature of 15°C.
Whereas the Swirski, which is always used for the control of thrips and whiteflies, is sold in sachets already provided with an exit hole and are hung in the culture away from direct sunlight.
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