A survey using modified azalea stems was used to establish a "tally threshold value" for assessing azalea lace bug, Stephanitis pyrioides (Scott), feeding injury to azalea shrubs. Consumers and green-industry professionals, represented by ornamental growers, landscape architects, and landscape managers, recognized azalea lace bug injury when injured leaf area exceeded 2%. Purchase and treatment...

The identification and conservation of naturally occurring enemies of crop pests is an important means of improving biological control in cropping systems. One particularly important potential mechanism whereby birds might stabilize and improve pest control is consumption of individual prey that escape mortality from other agents of biological control. We tested the hypothesis that birds prefer...

Bioinsecticides based on Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) are widely used to control agricultural pests. However, there concerns about their impact non-target organisms, with for example, the green lacewing Ceraeochrysa claveri, a polyphagous predator important value in biological of insect pests agroecosystems. This study aimed analyse effects Agree® bioinsecticide (containing Bt serovar aizawai GC...

California grape production is a multi-billion dollar business, but only a small fraction of the productive acreage is farmed organically. One aspect of organic management is the pest control strategies, which rely heavily on biological and cultural controls, as well as approved pesticides. To determine what factors might restrict adoption of organic farming practices, we describe the current s...

Many plant extracts or allelochemicals show a broad spectrum of activity against pests and such products have long been touted as attractive alternatives to synthetic chemical pesticides for pest management because they pose little threat to the environment or to human health. The studies available suggest that plant-based materials do affect arthropod pests, vectors and other pathogens, yet on...

Insecticide resistance is one of the major obstacles to the control of agriculturally important arthropod pests. Resistance results in increased application frequencies, increased dosages, decreased yields, environmental damage, and outbreaks of human and animal diseases when vectors cannot be controlled. The World Health Organization has called insecticide resistance "the biggest single obstac...