How To Monitor For Tarnished Plant Bug

Table of Contents

1. How to Monitor for Tarnished Plant Bug
2. Other Monitoring Tips
3. Related Links

How to Monitor for Tarnished Plant Bug

1. Obtain a field map. Know where the early season, mid season and late varieties are. You will also need a hand lens and a pie plate for sampling. Record sheets for tarnished plant bug monitoring are available on-line.
2. Decide if you will use the low threshold (could result in approx. 2% damage from TPB), or the high threshold (could result in approx. 4% damage from TPB) to make a control decision.
3. Begin sampling at first bloom. Sample different varieties, or groups of varieties (i.e. early, mid season, late) separately. Travel in a zigzag or random path across the block you are monitoring.
4. Tap or shake a flower cluster over the pie plate. Look in the pie plate for tarnished plant bug nymphs. They are small green, and generally move quickly. There are 5 growth stages, or instars. The 4th and 5th instar have black dots and wing pads on their back. Pictures of plant bug nymphs are on our website at factsheet: Tarnished Plant Bug: A Major Pest of Strawberry (Order No. 92-108).
5. Keep track of how many flower clusters are infested with one or more plant bugs. You do not have to count total number of plant bugs. Just count # of clusters infested.
6. After you have checked 15 flower clusters, refer to the chart below to see if the number of infested clusters is equal or less than the number in the below threshold. If not, check to see if it is equal or greater than the number in the low or high threshold column, depending on which threshold you have chosen. If the number of infested clusters is greater than the number in the below threshold column, but less than the number in the above threshold column, then sample another 5 clusters. Re-check the chart in the same way, until a decision can be made.

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Other Monitoring Tips

Other TPB monitoring tips:

• Sample twice a week from bloom until harvest
  If plants are wet, plant bug nymphs will be harder to dislodge form the flower clusters.
• You may find insects other than plant bugs in the pie plate. Aphids, thrips, and psocids and minute pirate bugs are common. These are generally not a problem. Yellow thrips however, may indicate a problem with strawberry flower thrips.

• Record sheets for tarnished plant bug monitoring are available on-line
• Tarnished Plant Bug: A Major Pest of Strawberry (Order No. 92-108)

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