The nursery of ornamental plants Wolfgang Ripkens in Straelen, Germany, produces, among other plants, on several thousand square meters Cyclamen. Since more than a decade, Mr Ripkens uses beneficial insects for plant protection under integrated pest management. This approach has been convincing, because it does not result in the development of resistance as it is observed by using chemical pesticides, and because it strongly decreases the handling of chemicals by the workers. Managing director Wolfgang Ripkens used OrnaProtect in the greenhouse from end of March until mid-October 2011. During the crop season, some individuals of the green-spotted potato aphid (Aulacorthum solani) were observed sporadically. This aphid species has the characteristic to overwinter in form of eggs. However, it has been controlled by OrnaProtect, as were all other different aphid species trying to establish in the crop. Retrospectively on the year Mr. Ripkens says: „The application of OrnaProtect is simple and fast, I save about 60% of labor time. Throughout the season, all appearing aphids were perfectly controlled. Moreover, the use of a mix of six different parasitoid species gives me more security, and I do not need to invest anymore in the difficult task of aphid identification. The simplicity of using OrnaProtect convinced me.”
