EN
Predatory mites (Acarida: Phytoseiidae) are one of the most important natural enemies of spider mites. The main factor, limiting their occurrence during the vegetation season, is an irrational pesticide treatment. The results of field and laboratory research showed that Amblyseius andersoni (Chant) is able to fast and effectively reduce spider mites as well as to maintain pest’s population on a low level. Due to their characteristics predatory mites can be used as an effective biological control agent. Laboratory tests were conducted to determine the selectivity to the predatory mite A. andersoni of the pesticides Mospilan 20 SP, Mythos 300 SC and Ortus 05 SC, commonly used in protection of strawberry plantations. All tested pesticides showed extremely low selectivity, causing a high mortality of predatory mites during the period of 48 hours after the treatment. Thus, there is a need for developing studies on pesticide used in strawberry plantation protection and their selectivity to predatory mites.