craig maddox - lace bug research and the future of lace bug management

RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT

Prepared by: Craig Maddox on behalf of NSW DPI Entomology branch

Lace bug research and the future of lace bug management

16 October 2014

Pest and disease managementLace bug research & the future of lace bug management

2014 AMS 40th Anniversary Industry Conference proudly presented by

Lace bug research so far

History of the pest

Why did it become such a problem?

Crop loss risk when to spray?

Management now

The future how does it integrate with

other pest management

(Mites, FSB, and Sigastus weevil)


History- relevant to lace bug

Carl Drake did the original identification work 1942

Alfred Brimblecombe (1948) showed the benefit of DDT at flowering

JH Veitch (1951) Macadamia flower caterpillar could cause total crop failure

David Ironsides (1973- 1987) QDPI only pests to spray were flower caterpillar+ FSB, added

MNB & Scirtothrips 1983 key pest, lace bug was a minor pest of inflorescence and foliage

“sporadically in large numbers and can cause severe damage when not controlled…. in elevated

areas…. Rarely significant” ..1980 CSIRO names book has listed the pest as Ulonemia concava

Neil Treverrow (1984-87) adjusted spray programmes in NSW to include endosulfan to

minimise Latania scale build up due to too many pyrethroid applications.

Huwer & Maddox & Commens & Bright (2006-14) address the issue of a second lace bug

species, where they lay and how to prevent crop loss where endosulfan could not be used

(cattle) and subsequent pesticide screening

Smithsonian lace bug images – 1942 Carl Drake type specimens

Jennifer Kirton Wollongbar DPI library

Ulonemia concava Ulonemia leai Ulonemia decoris

Thomas J. Henry

Systematic Entomology Laboratory

ARS, USDA, MRC-168

c/o National Museum of Natural History

P.O. Box 37012

Smithsonian Institution

Washington, DC 20013-7012

Macadamia Lace Bugs. Family:Tingidae Ulonemia concava ??(Drake) from Queensland and NSW and a second species – Ulonemia decoris (Drake) common in NSW

2009 & 2010 Presence of Macadamia lace bug had a bigger impact on the nut

set (50-100% loss) than FSB had on the crop quality later on (30-70% loss).


Why did lace bug become such a problem?

Endosulfan removal did not help

Poor spray timing, no spray

boundaries around orchards

Over selling the “Organics idea”

Major climatic events since 2008

Poor nut set leads to multiple

flowering and extra breeding

High carry over populations from

season to season not just lace

bug

“Unpack here guys but I bags the top trunks”

Spray coverage is critical – Endosulfan was a fumigant and let us get away with poor coverage - now you need to get to the top of the canopyMacadamia lace bug embed their eggs inside the florets you usually only see damaged racemes and cast skins and they breed quickly in early spring

Photo Maxine Dawes SCU


Crop loss risk … when to spray? Lace bug was not an issue in SE Qld growers used Methidathion pre flowering to

manage Flower Caterpillar : MACSMART data and best practice group feedback

In NSW that is not normally an issue so that spray window was open for a pest.

Our long term comparative management trial data at CTH Alstonville showed from

2008 unsprayed production fell 90% compared to the standard spray system in all

but earliest varieties …U. decoris main offender. (why were people not spraying?)

Trichlorfon is effective during flowering at the 2ml/L but often required more than

once in high pressure areas, organic growers were using pyganic pre flowering and at

2 week intervals to get nut set.

Mutual decision with Crop IRG that the easiest solution would be to add Lace bug to

the Diazinon label if we could show it worked (2012) because we had a registration

for feltid coccid use at the correct time (10 days before the main flowering begins)

2013-14 season has shown with better spray timing the crop is much better

Management Now

• Lace bug monitoring is far better now– Picking up activity early is important

• Need to know what is building up July -September

– Look for cast skins and live nymphs (5-10X mag needed)• Can generate 100+ nymphs on each raceme they infest

• Egg-adult in 12-19 days at 25o C

• Challenge is to develop a spray threshold 10% flower damage on a tree is too late! Invasion is all year key breeding is during flowering

• NSW Sticky plate trapping has caught both species throughout a season in normal managed and unsprayed conditions (now checking Bundaberg)

0

0.5

1

1.5

2

2.5

3

3.5

4

4.5

Lace b

ug

s c

au

gh

t o

n p

late

s (

2w

k)

Ud A16 Ud Haw

Uc A16 Uc Haw

Lace bug capture on yellow plates (2 week totals managed farm)Pretorius Farm Rous Rd Ud = U decoris, Uc = U concava

Lace bug capture on green sticky plates (bugs/plate/day )Unsprayed 6 yr old trees CTH Alstonville Sink Block

comparing A4 with 246 capture – extra flowering on A4 300mm rainfall event 27/8/14… levels about half last years

0.0

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

1.0

1.2

1.4

1.6

18/12/2013 18/01/2014 18/02/2014 18/03/2014 18/04/2014 18/05/2014 18/06/2014 18/07/2014 18/08/2014

lace b

ug

/ p

late

/d

ay

A4 Lb/Trap/day

246 Lb/trap/day

10 X 3mn=18

10 X 7mn=20

10 X 10mn=14

2013/14 yield Kgs DNIS /tree

1.2 (0.2) 2.3 (0.2)* 2.7 (0.3)*

15/9/14N=6

0.8 (0.4) 0.0 0.0

22/9/14N=6

2.0 (0.4)* 0.3 (0.2) 0.0

25/9/14N=6

2.6 (0.3)* 0.3 (0.2) 0.5 (0.3)

Lace bug levels on 6 yr Unsprayed old 246 macadamia planted at various

densities at CTH Alstonville. (skirted to 1.5m and rain this year helped)

Trial set 9/9/14 (n=6) mean lace bug/ plate and s.e.

*sig different using z test 95% confidence limits

Tighter we plant macadamia the more of an issue lace bug will be and it

will be necessary to either exclude or spray the pest at the moment


The future - can we integrate with other pest management required

Lace bug like flower caterpillar can remove all the nut set, we need to

maintain access to products that will allow the minimal amount of spraying

to get a reliable crop (high variability between regions- monitoring the key)

We are running comparative spray trial this season to compare nut set when

Diazinon / Beta cyfluthrin / Acephate is applied pre flowering or Trichlorfon

during flowering.

We can not ignore the impact that Sigastus sp. weevil or late FSB is having

New options at flowering and for mite management are needed

The search for biological control will continue fitting them without opening

doors for other potential pests is the key.

The lace bug taxonomy work will unravel the species complex UNSW

The Growers Dilemma

• Endosulfan was cheap and a miticide• None of the existing chemistries offer the

same range of efficacy with the compatibilities at pollination

Beta–cyfluthrin over -use is causing secondary problems, eg. Scirtothrips

+ Broad mites(Polyphagotarsonemus sp.)? Beta cyfluthrin is the cheapest option against the key

pests

How well do the new chemistries go on the “new” key pests? Sigastus sp. Weevil FSB/ BSB Pin hole beetles (Hypothenemus sp.) Bark beetles/cerambycids Lace bugs Feltid coccid MNB Kernel grub Banana caterpillar Whiteflies

Chemical rate

ml/L

Diazinon ** 1.25

June 2014

$Cost per dose per L

0.03

Beta-cyfluthrin ** 0.5

Acephate ** 0.8

Trichlorfon ** 2.0

0.01

0.09

0.05

Methidathion ** 1.25

Methomyl * 2.0

Maldison 2.0

Pyganic 2.0

Sufluxaflor 0.8

Flupyradifurone 1.0

Cyantraniliprole 1.0

0.05

0.02

0.02

0.16

0.16

?

?

Abamectin 1.0

Etoxazole 0.35

Bifenazate 0.65

Sulfur 2-3gm

0.02

0.09

0.23

0.01

Conclusions

• The industry wanted to benchmark a level of production of 4tDNIS/ha? Not many growers are at that level, none without spraying. Pesticides create that space for the crop we just have prevent them moving off farm.

• Orchards are a natural system, perpetual change and selection are its drivers .. Its an on going battle “there is always something apparently “new” out there to exploit any available population” you don’t really win you just make sure you get your share.

• For lace bug to be controlled “organically” we need to find a biological agent that works in winter .

• We have data to support the registration of at least three new compounds for managing lace bug during flowering but we need to re consider how we manage mites and thrips without endosulfan, and how the new pesticides will deal with other emerging pests.

• What should happen to areas where trees are not managed at all? Are they eventually just Lace bug and Sigastus sp. Breeding zones?


Acknowledgements• All the trial co-operators • Matt Stewart, Geoff Quinn, Ruth Huwer, Ian Purdue, David &

Tina Robertson, Alister Janetzki, Magda Verbeek , Jeremy Bright and Mark Hickey NSW DPI crew

• Bayer, Du Pont, Nufarm, Dow, Syngenta for new product access• Organic Crop Protectants and Bugs for Bugs

– (& Col Rijks for the organic look)• Stephen Mclean, Kevin Quinlan, Phil McCarthy, Eddy Dunn, Chris

Fuller, Bob Maier, Jarrah & Alan Coates and Chris Searle especially but all of the consultants who use our free service and give us the feedback we need

• AMS Robbie Commens plus HAL & QDPI Macsmart staff for their support

craig maddox - lace bug research and the future of lace bug management

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