The Lygus bug: a problem for pepper & cucumber growers

摘要

The Lygus bug (Fig. 1), or tarnished plant bug, is a problem that pepper and cucumber growers have to start thinking about around this time of year. Lygus bugs overwinter as adults in sheltered areas, such as leaf litter, under bark, etc., and usually begin emerging from these sites around mid-April to early May to seek out food and mates. Eggs are laid in young tissue where they incubate for a period of 10-20 days. The hatched immatures or nymphs (Fig. 2) pass through five stages, and new generation adults appear after about 30-45 days. Adults live for 1-2 months. The presence of overwintered adults overlaps with the new generation adults for several weeks, but numbers of the new generation are greater. The number of generations produced in southern Ontario is about three with each female being able to produce about 100-300 eggs during its 5-7 week lifetime.