How to Manage Pests
UC Pest Management Guidelines
Cabbage looper: Trichoplusia ni
Alfalfa looper: Autographa californica
In this Guideline:
Loopers arch their backs as they crawl. Cabbage loopers usually have a narrow, white stripe along each side and several narrow lines
down the back. Eggs are dome-shaped, and laid on the undersurfaces of older leaves. Adult moths have brown, mottled forewings marked in the center with a small silver figure
Young larvae feed primarily on the undersides of lower leaves,
skeletonizing them. High populations can damage seedlings severely enough to
kill them or slow growth enough to inhibit uniform maturing of the crop. Older
larvae may burrow into the head from the top.
Loopers are primarily an early season pest in inland desert
have many natural enemies that often keep populations below economic
thresholds. Maximize the use of these natural enemies by limiting treatments,
especially between thinning and heading.
Organically Acceptable Methods
Biological control and sprays of Bacillus thuringiensis are acceptable
for use on organically certified crops.
Monitoring and Management Decisions
signs of looper feeding: plants with holes in outer leaves, feces, caterpillars
feeding on edge of hole. Check fields twice a week once seedlings emerge.
Treat seedlings or small plants if populations of medium-sized
to large loopers are large enough to stunt growth. Treat well-established
plants only if you find an average of more than one-half larvae per plant. For
cabbage looper control, the best time to apply insecticide is in the afternoon.
|When choosing a pesticide, consider
information relating to impact on natural enemies and
honey bees and to the environment.
||BACILLUS THURINGIENSIS ssp. AIZAWAI#
||MODE OF ACTION GROUP NUMBER1: 11.B2
||COMMENTS: Apply when armyworms are small. Not harmful to natural enemies
||MODE OF ACTION GROUP NUMBER1: 15
||COMMENTS: Use allowed under 24(c) regulation.
UC IPM Pest Management Guidelines: Artichoke
UC ANR Publication 3434
M. A. Bari, Artichoke Research Foundation, Salinas
E. T. Natwick, UC Cooperative Extension, Imperial County
Acknowledgment for contributions to Arthropods:
W. E. Chaney, UC Cooperative Extension, Monterey County
W. L. Schrader, UC Cooperative Extension, San Diego County
L. Handel and T. K. Shannon, Kleen Globe, Inc., Castroville, CA
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