Domestic gardens supply pollinators with valuable habitats, but the risk of exposure to pesticides has been little investigated. Artificial nesting shelters of a red mason bee species (Osmia bicornis) were placed in two suburban gardens and two commercial fruit orchards to determine the contamination of forage sources by pesticides. Larval pollen provisions were collected from a total of 14 nests. They consisted mainly of pollen from oaks (65–100% weight/sample), Brassicaceae (≤34% w/s) and fruit trees (≤1.6% w/s). Overall, 30 pesticides were detected and each sample contained a mixture of 11–21 pesticide residues. The pesticide residues were significantly lower in garden samples than in orchard samples. The difference was attributed mainly to the abundant fungicides pyrimethanil and boscalid, which were sprayed in fruit orchards and were present on average at 1004 ppb and 648 ppb in orchard samples, respectively. The results suggested that pollinators can benefit from domestic gardens by foraging from floral sources less contaminated by pesticides than in adjacent croplands.

A variety of plant protection products and other agrochemicals are used in agro-ecosystems. Products approved for integrated pest management (IPM) or organic farming should have minimal negative side effects on beneficial insects. The Asian harlequin ladybird Harmonia axyridis (Pallas, 1773) (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae) has become a widespread and important generalist predator of certain agricultural pests, mainly aphids, throughout Europe. We studied the effects of two agrochemicals, Boundary SW^® (auxiliary plant protection product) and Prev B2^® (foliar boron fertilizer), usually regarded as "environmentally friendly" and known to have insecticidal side effects against some fruit and vegetable pests (e.g., aphids, spider mites, weevils), on the last larval instar and adults of Harmonia axyridis. The conventional organophosphate insecticide Reldan 22^® was used as a chemical standard for evaluating the lethal effect, because this product is usually effective against a broad spectrum of insects, and indeed was immediately lethal for both the adults and larvae of this species. However, whereas Prev B2^® had no effect, adult ladybirds sprayed with Boundary SW^® survived only for up to 25 h and also none of the larvae completed their development. Thus, although our experiments were not made under natural conditions, the use of Boundary SW^® cannot be recommended for IPM and organic farming in terms of safeguarding insect predators such as Harmonia axyridis until further more detailed testing.

Rodent bark gnawing is common during winter in times of low or unavailable food supply. During the growing season, it is a rare phenomenon, but can occur due to low food supply and/or poor food quality resulting from climatic influence. We evaluated this unusual damage of apple tree (Malus domestica) orchards by rodents in two localities in the Czech Republic. In 2019, 24% of trees in the orchard in Brno were gnawed by the common vole (Microtus arvalis) population. Damage in the Holovousy orchard by water vole (Arvicola amphibius) was inspected in 2020 and showed that 15% of trees were damaged with massive root gnawing. These findings were compared with gnawing in forest beech plantations in 2019, with up to 13% of trees damaged. Three rodent species (Microtus agrestis, M. arvalis and Clethrionomys glareolus) participated in the damage. Detailed description of the various vole species’ damage in vegetation period, which somehow differs from winter time damage, may help in the future in early recognition and early application of plant protection in times when this phenomenon may reappear.

The efficacy of European fruit lecanium, Parthenolecanium corni (Bouché, 1844) control using natural products | Michal Skalský, Jana Niedobová, Jan Popelka | Agricultural Journals

Eurytoma schreineri is a new invasive pest in the Czech Republic and may pose a risk in other European countries. Fruit damage caused by E. schreineri results in premature fruit drop, sometimes up to 90%. This study is the first to test the attractiveness of differently coloured sticky traps as a monitoring tool to determine presence, abundance, and timing of treatments against adults. We also evaluated efficacy of insecticides allowed in integrated pest management (IPM). Laboratory and field trials demonstrated that yellow sticky traps were the most attractive. Spinosad proved to be the most effective insecticide under both laboratory and orchard conditions, reducing infestation to 22.2% compared to 79.2% in untreated orchards. These findings provide new knowledge on pest monitoring and control strategies and will support fruit growers in developing effective IPM systems against E. schreineri.