PLANT PROTECTION 1 – Pests, Diseases and Weeds

PLANT PROTECTION 1 – Pests, Diseases and Weeds
‘OVERWINTERING’ All stages, eg adults, nymphs, but varies with the species.
SPREAD Some winged species fly short distances in warm weather, eg American
and Oriental cockroaches.
Transportation on ships, containers, aeroplanes, trains, etc.
CONDITIONS
FAVOURING
Warm moist weather, plenty of food.
Active during warmer months.
Conservation tillage, which also favours other soil pests.
INTEGRATED
PEST
MANAGEMENT
CONTROL
METHODS
.
STEPS IN IPM.
Are you a commercial grower or home gardener?
1. Access/prepare a plan if there is a history of cockroach infestation. Obtain
advice from your local department of agriculture.
2. Crop, region. Is your situation a crop, glasshouse, or domestic premises?
3. Identify the species causing the problem and prepare a prescription sheet so that
you know its life history. Consult a diagnostic service if necessary (page xiv).
4. Monitor. Depending on location, check premises/crops at night; set suitable
traps (see above). If cockroaches are present during the day infestation is serious.
5. Thresholds. In food areas there is a nil threshold. In crops how much damage
can you accept? Have any thresholds been established?
6. Action. Choice of appropriate controls often realistically involves the use of an
insecticide and sanitation measures, whether it is in a crop or a building.
7. Evaluation must include continual monitoring after treatment, recording
results and recommending improvements/continued treatment.
Cockroaches may be difficult to control, but their tendency to form groups
assists control.
LEGISLATION
Health legislation requires that pest species be controlled. Inspections,
fines and closures occur.
CULTURAL METHODS
Reduce water availability.
Balance conservation tillage against degree of infestation.
SANITATION
Do not leave crop debris lying around in greenhouses and bush houses.
Store food in tight cockroach proof containers. Regularly clean up food
remains and empty garbage. In houses seal cracks in cupboards, etc.
BIOLOGICAL CONTROL
Predators include birds, marsupials, lizards, frogs, mice.
Parasites such as hatchet wasps lay their eggs in cockroach egg capsules.
PHYSICAL & MECHANICAL METHODS
Sticky traps placed in appropriate places will capture some cockroaches
but on their own do not achieve high levels of control. They are useful for
monitoring for the presence of cockroaches in IPM programs.
Inspection at night by torchlight is useful for determining numbers.
INSECTICIDES
Insecticides may be applied to:
– Crops, eg seed dressings and baits may be applied, some by air.
– Commodities, eg fumigants.
– Buildings.
Cleanup before application.
Surface sprays to skirting boards, cracks.
Space sprays indoors may be applied as high pressure aerosols, mists or
fogs. Occupants must vacate the premises.
Aerosol and bombs.
Dusts applied to their body are ingested during grooming.
Baits.
Fumigants.
Re-infestation may occur some time after treatment due to subsequent
hatching of eggs not directly affected by insecticides.
Follow Resistance Management Strategies on insecticide labels.
192 Insects and allied pests - Blattodea (cockroaches)