Insect monitoring in fruit growing
Pest pressure and natural enemies in the orchard through the season, continuously in view.
In fruit growing, pest pressure demands timely action, while natural enemies need room to do their work. The DIOPSIS insect camera photographs flying insects in the orchard day and night and lets image recognition identify and count them at group level. You see how pest groups and natural enemies develop through the season and what hedges and flowering strips contribute.
Pest pressure and natural enemies through the season
The camera photographs an illuminated screen every few seconds and lets the image recognition model of Naturalis Biodiversity Center classify and count the insects. In the web portal you see how pest groups and natural enemies develop from week to week. That helps in timing interventions and in judging whether restrained spraying gives natural enemies room.
What hedges and strips deliver
Placing one camera in a row with a hedge or flowering strip and one in a row without shows whether those measures attract natural enemies. That makes investments in functional agrobiodiversity testable.
Practical in the orchard
The camera runs on solar power and 4G, can be placed and moved in minutes, and is monitored remotely. You lease per calendar year or for several years, portal included; image recognition is an option. For identification of specific pests, species-specific traps and your adviser remain necessary; the camera shows when it is worth looking.
Further reading
See also open-field crops, greenhouse horticulture and agricultural businesses, or contact us.
Related
Frequently asked questions
Does the camera recognise fruit pests to species?
The model classifies insects by group, not always by species. For trends in pest pressure through the season that is useful; for specific pests, identification by an adviser or with species-specific traps remains necessary.
What do I see of natural enemies?
Groups such as hoverflies, lacewings and parasitic wasps are recorded and counted. That shows whether measures such as hedges and flowering strips deliver natural enemies, and when in the season.
Does the camera help with certification and buyers?
A standardised series shows what hedges, flowering strips and restrained spraying deliver for insect life. That evidence is useful towards buyers and sustainability programmes.
Monitoring in your orchard?
We are happy to discuss a set-up with cameras in and around the orchard, the measuring period and what the data can mean for your crop and buyers.