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| Home > Pest management > tarnished plantbug |
Adult tarnished plantbug (TPB) feed on flower buds beginning in early April, doing most damage around bloom. Damaged buds exude a gummy liquid and shrivel up. Adults also oviposit into and feed on young fruit resulting in pitted, deformed fruit. Three to five generations occur in Michigan. TPB begins attacking apple buds early in spring, and can be present throughout the summer. Most first generation adults, however, migrate to weed hosts after petal fall.
Trapping with white sticky traps gives inconsistent results and is not recom-mended at this time. Scouting the orchard in the spring to look for ooze on flower buds is advised, especially if treatment with a broad-spectrum insecticide is not planned for the pre-bloom to petal fall period. |
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| The TPB nymph is greenish-yellow with black spots, and has no wings. |
The TBP adult is a 5 mm long flattened, oval bug, with color varying from green to brown, with yellow, black, or red markings. |
Feeding injury is evident in these apples. |
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- For more monitoring information and evaluation of available pesticides:
Michigan Fruit Management Guide
- A Practical Guide to Scouting Apple Orchards – a DVD showing how to scout apple orchards.
- MSU Diagnostic Services for assistance in pest identification.
- MSU Fruit Crop Advisory Team Alert newsletters for current pest/crop conditions.
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| This information was developed from A Pocket Guide for IPM Scouting in Michigan Apples by David Epstein, Larry J. Gut and George W. Sundin. Purchase this in a pocket-sized guide for reference in the orchard from MSU Extension (publication E-2720). |
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