Biological Control of Tarnish Plant Bug in Strawberries

Mr. Kaufman had a problem with tarnished plant bug on his strawberries. He purchased several thousand wasps of the species Anaphes iole, which he released in his fields. The adults of this species are reported to lay their eggs in the eggs of the tarnished plant bug. He examined some of the latter under a hand lens, but found that he could not determine whether they had been parasitized, because the magnification was insufficient.

Mr. Kaufman is certain that the tarnished plant bug population on his farm has diminished over the past two or three years. The cause for this is not clear, however, since he took several other measures that may also have had an effect 1) he stopped growing broccoli and lettuce, which serve as hosts to this pest, and 2) he allowed a neighboring field of alfalfa to blossom before cutting it. (Since the alfalfa blooms early, like the strawberries, it may have drawn bugs away from the strawberries.)