Stress free

Evan Jones, head grower for Springcreek, says the company sells plants to “landscapers, independent garden centers, Whole Foods, Costco and others.” Springcreek Growers even has a second location which houses a choose-and-cut Christmas tree farm. “We have a diverse customer base,” Jones says.

 

The family-owned business appeals to a wide variety of customers because they offer top-notch, greenhouse grown plants. And to keep their plants performing at the highest level, Jones has to effectively manage a variety of pests, including whiteflies. To manage whitefly populations, Jones employs Rycar insecticide in his rotation.

 

“We’ve been using Rycar for two years. We did a large trial with it last year and we saw extremely good results, particularly with our poinsettias,” he says. “The safety with it was good. It had a quick knockdown time. I was surprised by how fast it was.”

 

Jones uses Rycar as part of his chemical rotation. “It’s always good to have another new chemistry for attacking whiteflies. It’s definitely a good product to add to your arsenal.”

 

One of Springcreek Grower’s major crops is poinsettias and consumers demand clean, pristine plants. That makes a whitefly infestation a no-go.

 

“We just can’t have any whiteflies, absolutely cannot,” he says. “We really stress scouting and control so that there are no issues for consumers or retailers that we’re selling to.”

 

But some chemicals can burn a poinsettia crop, rendering it unsellable in some cases. But Jones says he’s never had any such struggle with Rycar.

 

Jones says he gets about two weeks of control with a spray application of Rycar. Then he rotates chemicals so that he doesn’t have to worry about resistance.

 

“It’s less stress for me,” he says. “Some chemicals we really have to worry about burn and phytotoxicity, particularly on our poinsettias. But with the rates we’ve been using for Rycar, I haven’t seen any problems.”