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US EPA Source Reduction Assistance Grant X9-96479407-0 SRAG - 1000 A publication of the Louisville Water Company, Local Planning Team for the Wellhead Protection Plan Pocket Field Guide - US EPA Source Reduction Assistance Grant X9-96479407-0 Recognizing Insect Pests SRAG - 1000 Louisville Water Company 550 S. 3rd Street Louisville, KY 40202 502-569-3600 http://www.louisvilleky.gov/LWC For additional copies, or more information, contact: Marsha Taylor Meyer Wellhead Protection Coordinator American Cockroach Louisville Water Company Winner of the Exemplary Source Water Protection Award, 2009, American Water Works Association 2009 Outstanding Watershed Project Kentucky-Tennessee Water Environment Association Page 12 Page 1 What is an insect pest? The concept of a pest is based on human purposes and perceptions. Under this criterion, a pest is an organism that has characteristics regarded by humans as injurious or unwanted. Usually, an organism is identified as a pest because it is harmful to agricultural activities or the ecosystem, or carries germs within human habitats. Examples include those organisms that Face Fly Green Bottle Fly House Fly vector human disease, such as rats and mosquitoes. The term may also include fungi and viruses. This Pocket Guide lists some of the common insect pests found in the home and in the lawn for identification purposes. Control options are not discussed in this guide. Some of these insects Louisville Water Company 550 S. 3rd Street may not be considered to be a pest in the lawn and garden, but Louisville, KY 40202 are certainly a pest in the home, while others are considered to 502-569-3600 be pests wherever they may be located. Weevil This list is not at all complete, but offers a starting point for Once the pest has been identified, and the extent of the identification by the homeowner. If you have encountered a pest infestation noted, various methods of control can be applied. that is not listed within this table, contact your local Cooperative Methods of control can include the use of pesticides, but also Extension Agent, the regional university, your nursery, or a include cultural, biological, or other non-chemical means of Certified Pesticide Applicator for identification purposes. control. Once you have a strategy set up to identify and manage the pests—watch them, determine if the pest has become a Again, as noted above, some problem that must be addressed, if only to prevent further insects that are commonly damage, select methods of control, and monitor the results of considered to be pests are benign your actions. or even beneficial. If, during your SRAG-1100 lists non-chemical controls of some of the insect pest survey, you discover a pest pests listed in this booklet. and its predator, you will have to decide whether the damage When a chemical control is recommended by the Kentucky caused by the insect can be Department of Agriculture, Cooperative Extension Service, or the accepted until the predator can University of Kentucky’s Entomology Facts, or a Certified Pest control the pest, according to its Control Operator, the homeowner uses the product at his own risk. nature. Remember that using a pesticide often kills not only the Clover mites on leaf. For a copy on disk of the Homeowner’s Guidebook of Native pest, but the beneficial predator. Plants, Integrated Pest Management, and Pollution Prevention, Insects can damage plants, (flowers, landscape trees and shrubs, contact Marsha Meyer of the Louisville Water Company, as lawn grass, etc.), in a variety of ways. These are listed below. described on the next page. Page 2 Page 11 1. Chewing – Devouring, notching, or mining leaves; eating wood, bark, roots, stems, fruit, seeds; 2. Sucking – Removing sap and cell contents and injecting toxins into the plant; 3. Vectors of Disease – Carrying diseases from plant to plant, Gray Field Slug Spotted Garden Slug Black Widow Spider e.g. elm bark beetles carry Dutch Elm disease, various aphids are vectors of certain viral diseases; 4. Excretions – Honeydew deposits lead to the growth of sooty mold, and the leaves can not produce foot through photosynthesis. 5. Gall Formation – Forming galls on leaves, twigs, buds, and roots. Brown Recluse Spider Mormidea Stink Bug Red-shouldered Stink 6. Ovipositor Scars – Forming scars on stems, twigs, bark, or Bug fruit; and 7. Injection of Toxic Substances – Some insects inject substances into the plant to aid in digestion of the plant to the insect. When various pest management strategies—exclusion of the pest, prevention, sanitation methods, etc.—are used in conjunction with Rice Stink Bug Termite American Dog Tick regular inspections of the home and lawn environment to monitor and manipulate pest activity, the process is called Integrated Pest Management. In most cases, an IPM approach is considered sensible, environmentally sound, and will keep pest levels and damage at levels that do not create economic problems or aesthetic problems. Lone Star Tick Horse Fly Blow Fly It is extremely important to remember that total eradication of a pest population is not the goal in most cases. In most cases, the goal is to keep pests at reasonable levels. Termite damage Blue Bottle Fly Cluster Fly Deer Fly . For example, eradication is extremely desirable when termites are damaging a home, or a pest presents the possibility of disease transmission to people or pets. Effective pest management and Page 10 Page 3 reduced use of pesticides are compatible. Pesticides used correctly and judiciously are good tools for pest control. However, pesticides should not be used if non-pesticidal approaches can solve the problem. The first step in any pest control program is to identify the pest. This listing shows some of the common insect pests found in Kentucky’s home and gardens. The pests shown below are color- Waved Sphinx Clouded Plant Bug Four-lined Plant bug Caterpillar coded by family types. Common Home and Garden Insect Pests of Kentucky Tarnished Plant Bug Chinese Mantid Chinch Bug Allegheny Mound Ant Carpenter Ant Oedoncala Seed Bug Stilt Bug Calico Scale Large Yellow Ant Odorous House Ants Aphid Cottony Maple Scale Euonymus Scale Magnolia Scale Bagworm Bedbug Carpenter Bee Honey Bee European Hornet Hornet Oystershell Scale Tuliptree Scale Silverfish Page 4 Page 9 Yellowjacket Paper Wasp Blister Beetle Parasitic Mites - Chigger Spider Mites – Red Spider Spider Mites – Spruce Mite Spider Mite Colorado Potato Beetle Confused Flour Beetle Red Flour Beetle Spider Mites – Two- Angoumois Grain Moth Cankerworm, spotted Spider Mite (Inchworm) Clothes Moth Eastern Tent Caterpillar Fall Webworm Saw-toothed Grain Cigarette Beetle Drugstore Beetle Beetle Forest Tent Caterpillar Gypsy Moth Caterpillar Tobacco Hornworm- Carpet Beetle Elm Leaf Beetle Flea Beetle Carolina Sphinx Moth Catalpa Worm Clearwing Sphinx Tomato Hornworm, Five- Caterpillar spotted Hawk Moth Japanese Beetle Asian Lady Beetle Mexican Bean Beetle Page 8 Page 5 Powderpost Beetle Squash Beetle Southern Pine Beetle German Cockroach Oriental Cockroach Drain Fly Striped and Spotted Banded Ash Borer Lilac Borer, (Ash Borer) Flea Fruit Fly Galls - symptom Cucumber Beetle Cyclamen Gnat Springtail Thrips Dogwood Borer Lesser Peach Tree Borer Peachtree Borer Whiteflies Head Lice Clover Mite Bronze Birch Borer Flatheaded Appletree Maple Petiole Borer Borer Grain Mite House Dust Mite, Parasitic Mites – Bird and (microscopic) Rodent Mice Boxelder Bug American Cockroach Brown-banded Cockroach Page 6 Page 7 .
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