David Owens, Extension Entomologist, owensd@udel.edu
Continue scouting strawberries for tarnished plant bug. Adults and nymphs feed on flowers and developing fruit. They feed on seeds causing the portion of the strawberry around those seeds to stop growing, resulting in misshapen fruit and ‘button’ berries. Adults are a little bit smaller than your small finger nail with dark brown and yellow stripes. Nymphs are quite small and green. Shake or flick flower clusters onto plastic and count adults and nymphs. There is a dynamic sampling plan here: https://ag.umass.edu/fruit/fact-sheets/strawberry-ipm-tarnished-plant-bug. Check a minimum of 15 flower clusters and consider a treatment if 3 or more bugs are found. Less than that, continue sampling. Pay attention to weedy field edges where they overwinter.