Wednesday, 4 January 2006
4:30 PM - 10:00 PM
Thursday, 5 January 2006
10:00 AM - 10:00 PM
Friday, 6 January 2006
8:00 AM - 5:00 PM

Actual and Simulated Damage to Cotton by a Creontiades Plant Bug in South Texas

J. Scott Armstrong, USDA-ARS, 2413 East Highway 83, Weslaco, TX 78596, Randy Coleman, USDA-ARS BIRU, 2413 E. Highway 83, Weslaco, TX 78956, and Brian Duggan, Australian Cotton Cooperative Research Center, CSIRO Division of Plant Industry, Locked Bag 59, Narrabri, 2390, Australia.

A green plant bug, known only for its genus name Creontiades, (Heteroptera: Miridae) has been threatening cotton in high enough densities that insecticide treatments have been applied to reduce feeding damage, even though an economic threshold has not been established. The plant bug problem is unique to South Texas and Coastal Bend cotton growing areas because Coastal host plants help build Creontiades populations before moving in to cotton. Our research focuses on characterizing the damage caused by the Creontiades plant bug to cotton flower buds (squares) and bolls through greenhouse and field experiments. We are also comparing actual and a simulated injury by injecting pectinase to the fruiting forms to determine if this technique closely resembles actual feeding injury so that an economic injury esitimate can be made without rearing thousands of Creontiades.

See more of Cotton Insect Research and Control Conference Posters
See more of Cotton Insect Research and Control Conference

See more of The Beltwide Cotton Conferences, January 3-6 2006