Movement of Insect Predators from Grain Sorghum to Cotton1

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Abstract
Probably the most effective method of pest management in cotton in the western United States is the strip cutting of alfalfa adjacent to cotton described by Stern et al. (1967). When a stand of alfalfa is maintained in uneven growth stages, the lygus bugs (Lygus spp.), mainly L. hesperus Knight, that prefer the alfalfa are retained in the alfalfa where they do little if any harm and do not migrate to the cotton. Fye (1971) described a system in which populations of insect predators increased by feeding on Biotype C of the greenbug, Schizaphis graminum (Rondani), in grain sorghum and then migrated to adjacent cotton as the grain sorghum matured. Thus, a strong potential for development of large populations of predators was evident. The study reported here was made primarily to determine the distance such predators might move, and secondly to determine the effect of the timing of the plantings of the 2 crops involved in the interchange.

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