ABSTRACT
Strip plantings of mustard, pigweed, and corn were used to increase tarnished plant bug, Lygus lineolaris (Palisot de Beauvois), populations in cotton for insecticide efficacy, COTMAN validation, and cultivar resistance traits research. Strip plantings were arranged as three rows of corn followed by one row of pigweed one row of mustard and three rows of corn. This eight-row pattern was followed by eight rows of cotton and repeated across the field. Approximately 20 acres were planted in this pattern on the experiment station. Strip plantings were sampled in June to determine population densities. High numbers of tarnished plant bugs developed on mustard and pigweed in June. Samples in July showed heavy infestations developed in cotton. The reservoir strip planting technique proved to be an effective aid for producing natural field populations of tarnished plant bugs for research purposes.
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