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Types of Pests

• Sucking Ornamental & • Meristem feeding • Phloem feeding • Mesophyll feeding Turfgrass • Chewing • Mining Management • Skeletonizing Janet Hurley, ACE • Leaf feeding • Root feeding Texas A&M AgriLife Extension • Boring School IPM Coordinator Training • Gall Making

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Meristem tissue

Meristem Attackers Thrips

Gall‐making Thrips FEED ON GROWING TIPS OF THE PLANT

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Phloem Gall makers Phloem Feeders Aphids

• Distorted leaf, stem, or flower Some scale insects parts Mealybugs • Insects, disease or physical Leafhoppers and planthoppers damage may cause galls Whiteflies • Oaks have more galls than any other plant group

Andricus laniger on live oak

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Aphids Phloem feeders Feed on the phloem (sap) of plants Pear‐shaped ◦ Aphids ◦ Whiteflies Long legs ◦ Plant bugs ◦ Scales Tiny tails (cornicles) ◦ Mealybugs Found in colonies ◦ Stink bugs

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Diagnosing aphids Honeydew Pear‐shaped insects on leaves, Produce a colorless, sweet, sticky fluid stems (with or without wings) Will attract and Cast skins Black or sooty mold Honeydew deposits

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Lacewing Syrphid larva

Green Lacewing

Syrphid fly Lady beetle larva Lady beetle Aphid natural enemies

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Scale insects Armored scales Scale insect ◦ Feed on parenchyma cells control ◦ No honeydew Soaps and oils ◦ Multiple generations per year dormant vs. summer oils Soft scales and bark scales systemic ◦ Feed on phloem ◦ Honeydew sprays timed to kill crawler stage ◦ (usually) one generation per year

Scale crawlers

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Two insect pests of crapemyrtle Crapemyrtle aphid, Sarucallis kahawaluokalani (Kirkaldy) ◦ Native to southeast (India, China, Korea, Japan) ◦ Monophagous on Lagerstroemia Crapemyrtle bark scale, Acanthococcus lagerstroemiae (Kuwana) ◦ Native to Asia (China, Korea, Japan) ◦ Polyphagous with poorly described host records, Crapemyrtle aphid

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Xylem

Xylem Feeders Some leafhoppers and sharpshooters

Spittlebugs

Black sooty mold

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Stem parenchyma Stem Leafhoppers parenchyma Suck plant sap from grass, shrubs, or trees Borers (beetle and )

Have piercing‐sucking mouthparts, enabling Graphocephala versuta (Photo courtesy Sam Houston, Armored scale insects them to feed on plant sap Bugguide)

Can transmit plant pathogens, such as viruses, phytoplasmas and .

Gyponana octolineata (Photo courtesy Stephen Luk, Bugguide) 19 20 3/18/2021

Adult borers Borers • Attack xylem and phloem tissue in tree • Enter as larvae through weak spots in bark • Adult forms emerge from holes chewed in bark • One generation per year, usually

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Root feeders Aphids

Beetles ◦ White grubs ◦ Wireworms

Flies (maggots)

Chinch bugs

Armyworms

Borer larvae Crickets

Cockroaches

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• Immature form of the White grubs June beetle • Multiple species • Phyllophaga crinita – June beetle • Cyclocephala lurida – Southern masked chafer • Others • Underground root White grub feeder • 5‐10 grubs per ft2 • One generation per year • Adult emergence in June, July • Ideal treatment time around 4th of July (July‐early August)

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June beetle life cycle

Other scarab beetles

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st nd 1 or 2 instar is optimal White grub controls treatment stage for consumers Imidacloprid (Bayer Season‐Long Grub Control™, HiYield Grub Free Zone III®)* Chlorantraniliprole (Scotts GrubEx) Pyrethroids not highly effective (e.g., • best time to treat around July 4 lambda cyhalothrin,

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White grub controls for professionals White grub cost comparisons . Granular insecticides . imidacloprid (Bayer Merit® G)* • * Neonicotinoid insecticides . Clothianidin (Arena 50 WDG)* . Thiamethoxam (Meridian™ 0.33G, Caravan G)* . Chlorantraniliprole (Acelepryn G) . trichlorfon (Dylox® 6.2G) Product Active Cost Rate Cost / Acre

. Liquid insecticides Acelepryn Chlorantraniliprole $129/25 lb 50‐100 lbs per acre $258‐$516 . imidacloprid (Merit® SC, WP) . clothianidin (Arena™)* Arena 2.5G Clothianidin* $66/30 lbs 80‐160 lbs per acre $176 . chlorantraniliprole (Acelepryn® SC) Meridian 0.33G Thiamethoxam* $86/40 lbs 60‐80 lbs per acre $129‐$172 . trichlorfon (Dylox® 80) ® . carbaryl (Sevin 80 WSP) Merit 0.5 G Imidacloprid* $39/30 lbs 60‐80 lbs per acre $78‐$104 . methoxyfenozide (Intrepid® 2F) Dylox 6.2 Trichlorfon $47/30 lbs 130 lbs per acre $204 * Neonicotinoid

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Flowering weeds and neonicotinoid Neonicotinoids insecticides. Larson et al 2014. Environ. Toxicol. & and pollinator Chem., Larson et al 2013. PlosOne. safety • >99% reduction in neonicotinoid residues in blooms formed after mowing. • Follow label directions and mow flowering weeds to protect beneficials including bumble bees • Chlorantraniliprole was a safe alternative to neonicotinoids

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Chinch bugs

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Chinch bug biology

• 3 to 6 generations/year • Principal host is St Augustinegrass • Look for yellowed, stunted dead plants, Collection especially along pavement edges • Damage occurs from sap‐feeding and (suspected) toxin • Threshold 25 bugs/ft2

Photo by Casey Reynolds

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Chinch bug control

• Resistant varieties have lost resistance in many areas. TAMStar reported to be latest resistant variety • High label rates of insecticides with wetting agent • Pyrethroids • Chlothianidin* • Thiamethoxam* • Trichlorfon • 2nd application if necessary, in 2‐3 weeks

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• Moth Armyworms • stage

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Fall armyworm Spodoptera frugiperda True armyworm, unipuncta • Armyworms overwinter in south Texas and • Immature stage of true armyworm moth, Mexico identified by white, diamond‐shaped dot • Larvae feed 2‐3 weeks in center of forewing. • Risks: • Larva has reticulated head capsule • Minor pest with potential for sporadic • Opens up turf canopy to outbreaks spreading to turf (more likely allow weeds to grow following warm winters) • If occurs during hot summer, may allow sun damage to • effective control with pyrethroid sprays, stolons, runners chlorantraniliprole, biologicals • Mow and treat with residual insecticide

Photos from NC State Univ. D.S. Reiland, J. Castner, L.J. Buss

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Sod Webworms

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Tropical sod webworm damage Tropical sod webworm

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Armyworm/webworm insecticides and cost comparisons

Product Active Cost Rate Cost / Acre Acelepryn SC Chlorantraniliprole $1000/0.5 gal 2‐4 fl oz per acre $31‐$63 Astro Insecticide Permethrin $140/1.25 gal 17‐35 fl oz per acre $13‐$27

Talstar P bifenthrin $52/1.0 gal 8‐11 fl oz per acre $3.25‐$4.50

Conserve SC Spinosad* $150/0.25 gal 11‐52 fl oz per acre $51‐$244 small – large larvae

Dipel Pro DF Bacillus thuringiensis* $22/ lb 1‐2 lb per acre $22‐$44 (small larvae) Mole crickets

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Three species in Texas Mole cricket ranges in Texas

•Northern mole cricket (Neocurtilla hexadactyla) • minor pest •Southern mole cricket (Scapteriscus borelli) • more predator than plant feeder •Tawny mole cricket (Scapteriscus vicinus) • severe damage to turf. Thought to be restricted to SE corner of state: Houston east to Louisiana

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Distinguishing southern and tawny mole cricket If you think you’ve had mole cricket damage:

• Map out affected areas • May‐June, sample turf in mapped sites for nymphs with soap flush • Treat infested areas May‐July • Bifenthrin • Fipronil (topchoice) • Indoxacarb • Thiamethoxam

U shaped gap in dactyls V-shaped gap in dactyls Soap flush: 3 Tbsp lemon scented Dawn in 3‐gal water

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Surinam cockroach, Pycnoscelus surinamensis

• Adults are medium‐sized (3/4 to Surinam • Burrowing species often found in mulch and compost piles 1 inch long) cockroach, and sometimes associated with bedding plants. • Have a shiny brown to blackish • Not a building dweller where moisture and humidity is low. Pycnoscelus Their impact on buildings is minimal and bites are unlikely. body with golden‐colored Their species causes widespread damage to regions prone forewings and markings on the surinamensis to high heat and humidity including: abdomen. • Gardens • Greenhouses • Prothoracic shield (covering the • Lawns thorax) is shiny black, narrowly marked with yellow along the front edge

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Crustation: Crayfish/Crawfish in Turf • Areas of turf in low‐lying areas that maintain damp soils and shallow subsurface water levels may support crayfish populations. • Damage is not so significant to the turf, but large amounts of soil may be brought to the surface as the crayfish tunnel in the soils. • Such large mud turrets may create mounds that can be annoying or inconvenient, especially during lawn maintenance.

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