Work

Protective Row Covers for Management of Flea Beetles in Organic Eggplant Production in the Southeastern US

Year: 2026

Type: article

Abstract: Organic eggplant production in the United States is challenged by flea beetles, which stunt eggplant growth and reduce yield. Across four experiments between 2019 and 2024, we compared the effects of various pest management strategies on flea beetle abundance, damage, and marketable yield in eggplant production, removing strategies that were ineffective in suppressing flea beetles from later years of the study. Low flea beetle pressure was observed in 2019 and 2020; consequently, experiments were moved to fields with a legacy of higher flea beetle pressure under organic management in 2021 and 2024. Prior to row cover removal, there were significantly more flea beetles in the control than fine-mesh row cover treatments in 2019, 2020, and 2021. Flea beetle feeding damage at flowering was significantly lower in all row cover treatments than the untreated control in 2019, 2021, and 2024 and the organic insecticide treatment in 2019 and 2021. There were no differences in marketable yield between treatments in 2019 and 2020, but marketable yields were significantly higher in fine-mesh row cover treatments than the control and the organic insecticide treatment in 2021 and 2024. These results indicate that fine-mesh row covers may be a viable pest management alternative to organic insecticides in organic eggplant production.

Source: Crops

DOI: 10.3390/crops6020042