Insect Abundances on Tomatoes and Squash Mulched with Aluminum and Plastic Sheetings1

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
Aluminum foil, laminated plasticized aluminum, laminated paper-backed aluminum, black plastic and white plastic sheeting materials 30-36 inches wide were used as mulches for squash and all but white plastic were used for growing tomato plants. Yellow-pan aphid traps caught more green peach aphids, Myzus persicae (Sulzer), and other species of aphids in the check plots than in those with aluminum foil or paper-backed aluminum mulches. Significantly more mines of a serpentine leaf miner, Liriomyza sp., were present in the leaves of unprotected tomato and squash plants than in those protected by aluminum-foil mulch. Significantly more honey bees, Apismellifera L., visited squash plants protected with plasticized aluminum and paper-backed aluminum than visited untreated plants and plants protected with black plastic and aluminum scrap mulches and vertical aluminum strips. More squash fruits were injured by pickleworms, Diaphania nitidalis (Stoll), in plots protected by aluminum-foil mulch than in those protected by white plastic mulch and vertical strips of aluminum.

This publication has 0 references indexed in Scilit: