Interactions between fertilization and pest management on arthropod pests of nursery grown maples

Many red maples cultivars (Red Sunset)are susceptible to damage caused by the potato leafhopper (Empoasca fabae Harris) and Freeman maple (Autumn Blaze) are relatively resistant. Control of this pest is usually obtained by several insecticide treatments. These applications can destroy natural enemies, and enable the development of injurious secondary pests such as mites. Preliminary studies show that applications to control potato leafhoppers reduces their abundance but increases spider mite populations on Autumn Blaze maples. We found that Autumn Blaze and Red Sunset maples respond diffently to insecticide application that target potato leafhopper. These results suggest that threshold for leafhopper management can be useful for preventing spider mite outbreaks in different maple cultivars.