Particular success is being achieved in Biological Production by the multifunctional training & research centres at Ponticelli, Eboli and Pontegagnano in Campania, managed by Con.Flo.Mer. Biological production of flowers and ornamental plants has great potential as a Quality Mark and distinction for local production. The protocol for producing roses 100% biologically without the intervention of chemicals has been determined in co-operation with Bioplanet (a specialist producer of beneficial insects). The protocol has since been transferred succesfully to local rose growers. Roses represent an important cut-flower crop in Campania with a market demand calculated in 600ha of production and a real production extension of only 200ha.
One particular element in biological control consists of a clone of tobacco that has a very low nicotine content. Flying insects such as aphids and white flies like to feed on these tobacco plants and they are controlled once the tobacco plants are innoculated with the predators (Macrolophus caliginosus for white flies and Lysiphlebus testaceipes for aphids). The tobacco plants are interspaced in the greenhouse and this control method is effective in various crops. Quite apart from beneficial insects, hanging baskets of pitcher plants (Nepenthes) can be hung at intervals in the greenhouse acting as traps for flying insects. In Poinsettia crops the placing of yellow mats under the pots acts as a deterent to flying insects. The available biological arsenal used in rose cultivation also includes: fungal and bacterial agents, gelatin, plant extracts and inducers of the natural resistance of plants. Contact: Agroflora, tel +081 7778526, E-mail: agrofloracpm@hotmail.com Bioplanet Fax +0547 632212, E-mail: info@bioplanet.it, www.bioplanet.it |
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