Heat tolerance of strawberry tarsonemid mite Phytonemus pallidus

• Published in: Annals of Applied Biology
• Main Author: HELLQVIST, SVEN
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Wiley 2002
• Subjects: Northern Sweden; Mite
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1744-7348.2002.tb00196.x; https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1111%2Fj.1744-7348.2002.tb00196.x; https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/j.1744-7348.2002.tb00196.x

Summary The heat tolerance of the strawberry tarsonemid mite Phytonemus pallidus ssp. fragariae was studied in northern Sweden by treating adult mites in hot water at temperatures 44°C, 46°C and 48°C. During the summer, the shortest exposure times required to kill all adult mites at these temperatures were 6, 2.5 and 1.25 min, respectively. It is concluded that hot‐water treatment of strawberry runners for 6.5 min at 46°C would suffice to kill all tarsonemid mites on infested runners. This exposure time includes the time needed to raise the temperature of the plant material to that of the water bath. In the autumn, from the middle of September and later, the mites became successively much more heat tolerant as they prepared for hibernation. It is expected that longer exposure periods are needed to kill mites on frigoplants.