Managing True Bug Pests in Almond Orchards

Tim Hammerich

News Reporter

At least 60 species of insect pests attack almond trees. Hemipterans or true bugs can be some of the most important pests in these orchards. Pests like lace bugs, plant bugs, stink bugs, and leaffooted bugs, each have their own biology and management requirements, says UC Cooperative Extension IPM advisor Jhalendra Rijal.

Rijal… “We need to understand what insect we're talking about, what time of the year we're talking about, whether the population is there so that it makes sense to spray, to spend another $50 or $40 or whatever that would be. Plus when you add another insecticide, it will add another layer of other things too.”

Rijal and colleagues recently wrote an article for the Journal of Integrated Pest Management detailing 11 of these true bug pests.

Rijal… “We tried to kind of separate these different things going on in the orchard and then different insects and their timing and how we can monitor, how we can manage these things effectively. And it's really a comprehensive document of all of these hemipteran or true bug pests into one place, so that we can understand these pests better. And that will always help to optimize the monitoring as well as management.”

The open source document is available online for growers and PCAs to use as a resource.