David Owens, Extension Entomologist, owensd@udel.edu
Strawberries
Continue scouting for tarnished plant bug activity. Tarnished plant bug feed on flowers and developing fruit, causing cat facing, deformity, and button berries. The nymphs are small and lime green, adults are mottled brown and a little bit smaller than a pencil eraser. Scout for tarnished plant bug by shaking 30 flower trusses or clusters (6 groups of 5 across the field) on a dark sheet or on the black plastic where the nymphs will be more easily seen. Count the number of infested flower clusters (not number of nymphs). A variation on the sampling method is to first sample 15 flower clusters. If 0 clusters are infested, you do not need to spray but if 3 or more are infested, control is justified. If between 0-3, check 5 more flower clusters. The complete sequence can be found here: https://ag.umass.edu/fruit/fact-sheets/strawberry-ipm-tarnished-plant-bug.