Insect Control on Bell Pepper in West-Central Florida, Spring 1994

Abstract

Abstract Transplants were set 10 Mar, 12 inches apart on 8-inch-high and 32-inch-wide beds of EauGallie fine sand covered with white polyethylene mulch. Each plot consisted of a single row of 10 plants with rows on 5 ft centers. Treatments were replicated 4 times in a randomized complete block design and were applied with a 2.5 gal, hand-held CO2- powered sprayer on 29 Mar, 4, 11, 18, 25 Apr, 2, 9, 16, 23 May, and 1 Jun. The sprayer was outfitted with a single nozzle with a D-5 disk and #45 core and delivered 100 gpa at 60 psi. On 15 Apr and 4 May, each plant in each plot was inspected for small (≤0.5 inch long) and large (>0.5 inch long) beet armyworm larvae and the data were combined over both dates. Fruit were harvested on 13 May, 1, and 14 Jun and the number and weight of undamaged fruit and the number of fruit damaged by beet armyworm larvae were determined. Fruit with slight feeding damage only on the stem or calyx were considered marketable. Fruit with either slight or severe damage on the fruit wall were considered unmarketable. Fruit also were examined for the presence of oviposition scars on the outside of the fruit and for the presence of larval feeding damage on the inside of the fruit caused by the pepper weevil. On 16 Jun, each plot was sampled by dislodging the insects from the tops of five plants with a garden stake into the bottom of a rectangular cake pan painted black and coated with a thin film of vegetable oil. The numbers of pepper weevil adults, whitefly adults, predator adults and immatures, and aphids were counted. The numbers of predators were totaled over all species since few of any one species were present.