Upper Coast IPM: Fleahoppers to Plant Bugs and Aphids to Midge

Friday, May 12, 2017

Fleahoppers to Plant Bugs and Aphids to Midge

Howdy,

This week the fleahopper numbers in cotton are mostly down. I know several folks have treated for them, and have had no trouble knocking populations back. The threshold for fleahoppers is 15-20% of plants with fleahoppers. Some of the cotton in Jackson and Matagorda county is starting to bloom. Cotton fleahoppers are no longer a concern after plants are blooming, but we will need to start looking out for stink bugs, lygus bugs, and verde plant bugs after bloom.

Sugarcane aphids were reaching treatable levels in a few places in Jackson and Matagorda county this week. They tend to pop up on the edges of fields first, then move in to the rest of the field. This guide is a good tool to use when scouting for them. Keep in mind that sugarcane aphids have black cornicles (tailpipes), feet, and antennae ends. They tend to be pale yellow in color, and lack the opaque green stripe down the middle that greenbugs have. The aphid populations I've seen have been mixed with corn leaf aphids, greenbugs, and the sugarcane aphids.

Greenbugs
Photo: Kate Harrell

Sugarcane Aphids
Photo: Kate Harrell

Some sorghum is starting to boot or head out in all three counties. Once it begins to bloom, we need to keep and eye out for sorghum midge, and then for rice stink bug. The threshold calculator for sorghum midge can be found here, and the threshold calculator for rice stink bug can be found here.

This week's bug is one a vegetable grower I get veggies from brought me last week. The photo below unfortunately doesn't show the full color of the insect. The body was black when looked at straight on, but iridescent blue from any other angle. This is an anchor bug nymph, and it is a type of predatory stink bug. It was a good challenge to identify, I had wrongly assumed it was a plant feeder (since it's a stink bug), and spent time looking over pest species. It's a predator! The adults of several species have white, orange, or yellow markings on the back that closely resemble the shape of an anchor, hence the name.