Lepidopteran Pests: Family Hesperiidae

This chapter explores the fiery skipper, which belongs to the order Lepidoptera, family Hesperiidae, subfamily Hesperiinae. Members of this family, called skippers, were named for their fast, erratic flights. Members of the subfamily are known as tawny skippers, and their larvae are chiefly grass feeders. In Hawai'i, the fiery skipper is considered the third or fourth most serious lepidopterous pest of turfgrass but has the potential of being the most serious pest during the warmest period of the year. It is considered one of the five most injurious lepidopterous pests attacking lawns in California. Fiery skipper is found in several southern states, but turfgrass damage by the fiery skipper has been reported only in California and Hawai'i.

Planting Date Effects on Heliothine Larval Numbers, Fruit Damage, and Yield of Transgenic B.t. Cotton in North Carolina

The susceptibility of Bollgard® cotton and non-B.t. cotton to bollworm, Helicoverpa zea (Boddie), was examined under contrasting crop management strategies in northeastern North Carolina in 1995, 1996, and 1998. Specifically, planting date effects were observed in Edgecombe Co. in 1995 and 1996, in Martin Co. in 1996, and in Washington Co. in 1998. The bollworm was the only lepidopterous pest which occurred at damaging levels in these tests. Although no significant differences were detected in mean percent egg deposition, mean percent larval infestation, and mean percent damaged fruit between early-planted and late-planted plots in 1995 and 1996, yields were higher in early-planted cotton than in late-planted cotton. In 1998 mean percent damaged fruit was higher in early-planted cotton than in late-planted cotton, but early-planted cotton had significantly higher yields than late-planted cotton. Early planting may be an effective management strategy for Bollgard® cotton in northeastern North Carolina.

Control of Pickleworm on Squash with Selective Insecticides, 1997

Insecticides specific for lepidopterous pest-were compared with a standard, Thiodan, and an untreated check for control of pickleworm. Squash was direct seeded on 1 Apr at the Central Florida Research and Education Center, Leesburg, FL. Each plot consisted of four 25-ft rows, 6 ft apart with plants spaced 2.5 ft apart. Treatments were replicated four times in an RCB design. All chemicals were applied with a 2-row tractor-mounted boom sprayer with 18 Albuz (lilac) ceramic hollow-cone nozzles spaced 8 inches apart, delivering 133 gpa at 200 psi. Latron CS-7, a surfactant, was tank-mixed with Confirm and RH-2485 at a concentration of 0.12% vol:vol. Treatments were applied weekly from 14 May to 11 Jun. Fruits were harvested, separated into marketable and damaged, counted, and weighed three times per week from 12 May to 16 Jun. An analysis of variance and a mean separation test (WD) were used to determine significant differences among treatments.

Pest Evaluation in Sustainable Cabbage Production Systems

Conservation tillage systems provide optimum conditions to reduce soil erosion and increase surface soil organic matter. This experiment was established with the long-term goal of developing conservation tillage systems that use either chemical inputs to produce vegetables and control pests, or legume cover crops, biological pesticides, and tillage to provide plant nutrition and control pests. The experiment consisted of cabbage (Brassica oleracea var. L. Capitata Group) grown by traditional-tillage (TT) or strip-tillage (ST) culture using either chemical or organic production methods for pest control. Cabbage heads were heavier with TT than with ST for the chemical production system. Although weed biomass was significantly higher with organic methods, there was a poor relationship between weed biomass at harvest and cabbage head weight. The lack of differences in lepidopterous pest damage suggests that the conservation tillage systems examined likely would not affect lepidopterous pest management systems using biological insecticides. Within tillage treatments, the organic production system resulted in less Alternaria infection than did the chemical production system. Since no fungicides were applied on any treatment, lower disease ratings in the organic production system may have been the result of reduced soil contact of the cabbage leaves from the increased soil coverage by the weed and intercropped legume canopy.