Author
|
Submitted to: Book Chapter
Publication Type: Book / Chapter Publication Acceptance Date: 2/4/2013 Publication Date: 11/1/2014 Citation: Tillman, P.G. 2014. Milkweed, stink bugs, and Georgia cotton. In: Burns, D., editors. Farming with Native Beneficial Insects. North Adams, MA: The Xerces Society, Storey Publishing. p. 28.29. Interpretive Summary: Technical Abstract: In peanut-cotton farmscapes in Georgia, stink bugs, i.e., Nezara viridula (L.)(Say) and Chinavia hilaris (Say), develop in peanut and then disperse at the crop-to-crop interface to feed on fruit in cotton. The main objective of this study was to examine the influence of a habitat of tropical milkweed (Asclepias curassavica L.) on biological control of stink bugs in cotton bordered by peanut. Pest density and parasitism rates were monitored in replicated cotton plots with or without milkweed habitats (25 potted flowering plants per plot) in 2009 and 2010. The milkweed habitat increased host parasitism by Trichopoda pennipes (F.) both years. In the first year of the study, there was some indication that this sole management strategy can help maintain stink bugs below economic threshold in this crop. Complimentary management strategies, though, may also need to be incorporated to continually suppress these pests below economically damaging levels throughout the growing season in these farmscapes |
