Project Number: 6402-22000-047-15
Project Type: Specific Cooperative Agreement

Start Date: Jan 02, 2003
End Date: Dec 31, 2007

Objective:
(1) Demonstrate that destruction of wild hosts of the tarnished plant bug from field, road, and ditch margins in April and May will reduce population buildups and prevent it from being an early-season pest of cotton. (2) Evaluate the costs of wild host destruction as compared to benefits in terms of reduced insecticide use for plant bug control.

Approach:
Selected wild hosts which are preferred reprodutions hosts of plant bugs will be selectively sprayed with a herbicide or mowed during April and May in marginal areas around fields, roads, and ditches in a cotton producing area of the delta measuring 4x4 miles. Plant bug populations on the remaining hosts will be measured weekly. Host plant density counts will be taken. Results will be compared to samples from 3 non-treated areas of the same size to measure the impact of the treatments on plant bug populations. Plant bug populations in cotton in the treated and untreated areas will be measured weekly during the growing season. Costs of the treatment and benefits to growers will be calculated from experimental data and from data collected from producers.