The effect of groundcover vegetation on the tarnished plant bug (TPB), Lygus lineolaris (Palisot de Beauvois), was studied in commercial apple orchards in Nova Scotia in 2000 and 2001. When control of broad-leaved weeds was enhanced through better use of herbicides there were significant reductions in TPB sweepnet captures and a nearly 50% reduction in TPB injury to fruit. Neonicotinoids were nearly as effective as the more disruptive pyrethroid insecticides when tested against TPB held on treated apple foliage. One neonicotinoid, thiocloprid, was harmless to honeybees in cage trials, whereas pyrethroid and organophosphate insecticides caused 30-40% mortality. In laboratory bioassays, a commercial formulation of Beauveria bassiana and isolates of native fungal pathogens collected from insects in blueberry fields caused high TPB mortality. In outdoor trials on caged strawberries, commercial B. bassiana was as effective as registered insecticides in controlling TPB.
Species 1: Heteroptera Miridae Lygus lineolaris (tarnished plant bug)
Keywords: groundcover, fungal pathogens
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