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Funded Project |
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Funding Program:
Regional IPM Competitive Grants - Northeastern |
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Project Title:
A Trap Crop System for Managing Tarnished Plant Bug Damage in Northeast Strawberries
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Project Directors (PDs):
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Lead State: NY Lead Organization: Cornell University |
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Cooperating State(s):
Pennsylvania |
| Research Funding: $80,756 |
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Start Date: Aug-01-2010 End Date: Jul-31-2011 |
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No-Cost Extension Date: Dec-31-2011 |
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Pests Involved: tarnished plant bugs |
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Site/Commodity: strawberry, strawberries, small fruit |
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Area of Emphasis: trap crops |
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Summary:
This is a multi-state research project to develop an alternative to broad-spectrum insecticides to manage tarnished plant bug (TPB) in strawberries. TPB is a key insect pest of strawberries in the northeastern USA and many other regions of the country. The economic threshold for TPB is low in strawberry, and the application of broad-spectrum insecticides are frequently required leading to increased costs, and dangers to pesticide applicators and the agroecosystem, including negative effects on beneficial predators of strawberry pests. Our goal is to develop methods for using of winter canola, a highly preferred early-flowering crucifer, as a trap crop to attract and concentrate overwintered TPB adults from the surrounding areas thereby reducing colonization and damage in strawberry. Our specific objectives are to 1) quantify TPB abundance and strawberry damage as affected by proximity to and management of winter canola, 2) evaluate winter canola varieties to maximize attractiveness to TPB but minimize TPB population growth, and 3) quantify the benefits and costs associated with winter canola as a trap crop for commercial strawberry plantings in New York and Pennsylvania. Grower adoption of the results of this project could lead to substantial reduction in insecticide use and costs for strawberries grown in northeastern and north central states. The project addresses numerous objectives of the NE-RIPM program (e.g. reduce environmental and human risks, reduce dependence on pesticides, advance IPM principals in a relatively short timeframe, interdisciplinary) as well as the broad goal of advancing IPM knowledge and practices for multiple states in the northeast and surrounding regions.
Objectives: Objective 1a. Quantify TPB abundance and strawberry damage as affected by management of winter canola: Insecticide control of TPB in canola. The objective is to be addressed by G. Loeb and M. Pritts at Geneva and Ithaca Experiment Stations during the 2010-2011 field seasons. Objective 1b. Quantify TPB abundance and strawberry damage as affected by management of winter canola: Bare ground barrier between canola and strawberry. The objective is to be addressed, in consultation with the PI, by K. Demchak and R. Marini at PSU research farm during the 2010-2011 field seasons. Objective 2. Quantify the benefits and costs associated with winter canola as a trap crop for commercial strawberry plantings in New York. The objective is to be addressed primarily by G. Loeb along with cooperating growers in the Finger Lakes area of New York in consultation with M. Pritts, K. Demchak and R. Marini, during the 2010-2011 field seasons. Proposal USDA CRIS data |
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Final Report: |
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Impacts Trap crops have been shown to be effective as an alternative pest management tool for managing Lygus species in other cropping systems. Winter canola has some traits that make it a good candidate as a trap crop for June-bearing strawberries grown in the Northeast and north central regions including early blooming, relative ease of growing, and relatively low costs. In all our experiments we were successful in establishing winter canola and that at the start of the season, overwintered TPB readily colonized it while generally not colonizing strawberry prior to flowering. However, results suggest that once strawberry beings to flower, it becomes as attractive, or possibly more attractive, to TPB than winter canola as it finishes flowering. Thus, our approach was not successful enough to provide the necessary benefits in terms of pest management to warrant grower adoption. We have advanced our understanding of trap cropping systems and identified areas where improvements might be made to make it a more feasible approach for managing TPB in strawberry. |
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Outcomes Experiments, involving strawberry plantings with or without companion winter canola plantings were conducted both on university research farms and on commercial farms in NY. Winter canola, seeded in the previous season, initiated flowering prior to flowering in strawberry plantings. At most sites, overwintered adult TPB were more abundant in the winter canola plantings compared with strawberry plantings. However, as strawberry began to flower, adults and nymphs were found in both habitats and there was no significant difference between TPB in strawberry plots adjacent to winter canola and in strawberry plots adjacent to mowed grass. Damage from TPB to strawberry fruit was either not different or slightly greater in plantings adjacent to canola compared to control plots. Applying insecticide to the winter canola or clipping the winter canola to encourage regrowth and flowering did not significant alter TPB abundance patterns or damage. In a separate experiment, we did find that bare ground separating a strawberry planting reduced movement of TPB nymphs from winter canola, although in this experiment, overwintered adult TPB did not differ between winter canola and strawberry plots regardless of amount of bare ground. Results on commercial strawberry farms were generally consistent with small plot trials conducted on university research farms. Our overall conclusions from these series of experiments are 1) overwintered TPB readily colonizes winter canola as it starts to flower in spring and before strawberry begins to flower, 2) TPB readily colonizes strawberry and lay eggs once it begins to flower and may prefer ovipositing in strawberry over winter canola, 3) Treating winter canola with insecticide prior to full bloom of strawberry did not increase success of canola as a trap crop at the scale these experiments were conducted, 4) Clipping winter canola in the spring as it was beginning to flower had the result of prolonging flowering time but this did not increase preference for the canola compared to strawberry when flowering, 5) Bare-ground in the range of 6 to 14 decreases movement of TPB nymphs from winter canola and strawberry, but this may not be of much help since TPB appears not to have a strong oviposition preference for winter canola, and 6) Our results do not support the hypothesis that a winter canola trap crop would provide a cost-effective method for managing TPB in June-bearing strawberries as currently envisioned. |
Report Appendices
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