C A L I F O R N I A
Vegetables A SPECIAL GROWERS’ REPORT OF AG ALERT ®
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Plants grow in pepper research field, top, at the University of California, Riverside. The university’s Trumble Lab is working on integrated pest management approaches that can help target pepper plant threats such as the beet armyworm, right.
Renowned research center targets pests in peppers ByKathyCoatney John Trumble, who retired from a laboratory that now bears his name, researched pepper pests for 25 years. the efficacy of those products against the specific insect complexes that are associated with peppers.”
Insect pressure varies year to year, but pepper weevils are a focal point, Kund said. “That’s one of the targetedpests that they really are concernedabout,” he said. “And it’s hard to find products that are effective against pepper weevils.” Lepidopteranpests,whichfeedonthepeppers, areproblematicandKundsaidresearch- ers are attempting to control themwith different products. There are other insects that carry vector viruses and bacteria. They include whiteflies, aphids, thrips and potato psyllid, also called pepper psyllid. “We’ll target these insect complexeswithdifferentmaterialswithinanIPMprogramand seewhat works well against themto limit the spread of viruses and bacteria,” Kund said. Someproductsmayworkwell against lepidopterans. But the sameproductmaynot be effective against sucking insects such as aphids, and the label will be restricted to reflect that, Kund said. Usingcompounds suchas apyrethroid that areeffectiveagainstmultiple insect species can cause other problems, he said. For example, if a compound is applied and it kills a broad spectrumof insects, it may also kill beneficial insects that help control the insect
He showed tomato growers inMexico how to make more money and produce safer products by rotating chemicals andusing softermaterials.His researchwas instrumental inmoving farmers inCaliforniaandelsewheretointegratedpestmanagementapproaches. Nowtheworkof theTrumbleLabat theUniversityof California, Riverside, livesonwith a new staff associate, Greg Kund, taking over the research. Thesedays, Kund isusing theUCRiversideagricultural fieldstation toplant half anacre toanacreof peppersonwhich toapplyanywhere fromsix toadozendifferent treatments. Kund is working under TomPerring, professor of entomology at UC Riverside, in un- dertakingmulti-tiered research for the California Pepper Commission. “Itwas anatural progression forme just to takeover theproject andkeep it going,”Kund said of following inTrumble’s research footsteps. Thecontinuingworkalsoinvolvesconductingpestcontrol studies foroutsidecompanies. “If theyhavenewproducts that theywant tobring tomarket, then they’ll come tous and ask us to test some of these in our field trials,” Kund said. Those trials include either laboratory-based tests or field tests, depending on the stage of development of the products. Kund said he tests pest control methods “to determine
See RESEARCH, Page 14
September 15, 2021 Ag Alert 13
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