Transcript File
Pests & Diseases
Insects - Anatomy
• Insects
▫ Small animals that have three body regions and
three pairs or six legs.
▫ The three body regions are….
Head
Thorax
Abdomen
Parts of the Insect
Life Cycle of Insects
• Complete
metamorphosis
▫ Egg
▫ Larva
Worm
Caterpillar
▫ Pupa
▫ Adult
Flies
Beetles
Life Cycle of Insects
• Incomplete
metamorphosis
▫ Egg
▫ Nymph
▫ Adult
Insects - Mouthparts
• Chewing
▫ Tear, chew or
grind food.
▫ Parts of leaves
eaten away.
▫ Example:
Grasshoppers
Beetles.
Insects - Mouthparts
• Piercing-sucking
▫ Punctures plant & sucks sap.
• Rasping-sucking
▫ Rasps or breaks surface and suck sap.
▫ Example: Thrips
Insects - Mouthparts
• Siphoning
▫ Have a coiled tube they dip into liquid food such
as nectar and draw it in.
• Sponging
▫ Have two sponge-like structures that collect liquid
food and move it into the food canal.
▫ Example: Housefly
Insect Damage
• Damage depends on type of mouthparts.
Chewing Insects
• Beetle
▫ Eat leaves, stems,
flowers, fruit and
nuts.
Chewing Insects
• Cutworms
▫ Usually attack stems,
but may eat other
plant parts.
Chewing Insects
• Caterpillars
▫ Larva of moths and butterflies and are fuzzy or
hairy.
▫ Eat young leaves and stems.
▫ Roll up in leaves making the leaves curl.
Chewing Insects
• Grasshoppers
▫ Eat all parts of plants.
Sucking Insects
• Aphids
▫ Pierce & suck juices.
▫ Known as plant lice.
▫ Cause stunted growth
and yellow spotted
leaves.
▫ Causes sticky
substance and black
mold which attracts
ants.
Sucking Insects
• Leaf Bugs
▫ Causes plants to look
unhealthy.
▫ Lose their normal
color and wilt.
Sucking Insects
• Mealybugs
▫ Pierce and suck from underside of leaves and in
leaf axils.
▫ Causes yellow appearance and sticky secretions.
Sucking Insects
• Scale
▫ Appear as black or brown raised bumps attached to
stems and underside of leaves
▫ Causes yellow leaves and stunted growth.
Sucking Insects
• Thrips
▫ Chew & then suck plant
tissue causing it to
become speckled or
whitened, leaf tips to
wither, curl up or die.
Sucking Insects
• Whiteflies
▫ Feed on underside of
young leaves causing
yellowing.
▫ They will look like
flying little white
specks when plants
are shaken.
Mite Damage
• Mites
▫ Aren’t insects because
they have 8 legs.
▫ Attack underside of
leaves causing gray to
grayish-green spots.
▫ Severe infestations
cause webbing.
Controlling Insects
Controlling Insects
• Insects must be killed when they are….
▫ Actively feeding or moving on the plant.
Biological Control
• Using natural
enemies such as….
▫ Birds
▫ Other insects.
▫ Etc.
Chemical Control
• Using pesticides or insecticides (chemicals).
Chemical Control
• Contact Poisons
▫ Affect the insect’s nervous system and must come
into contact with insect to be effective.
Chemical Control
• Stomach Poisons
▫ Are sprayed on plant
surfaces or are taken
into the plant through
absorption.
▫ Insect must eat or
suck the poison to get
it into the stomach
for this method to be
effective.
Chemical Control
• Systemic Poisons
▫ Absorbed by the plant
and then ingested by
the pest when it
feeds.
▫ More effective than
stomach poisons for
controlling sucking
insects.
Chemical Control
• Fumigants
▫ Poisonous gases released into an enclosed place so
that insects breathe the gases.
Cultural Control
• Involves sanitation, removing insect breeding
and hiding areas and using insect resistant
plant varieties.
Mechanical Control
• Using physical
controls such as….
▫ Insect traps.
▫ Using screens
over fans &
other openings.
▫ Washing plants w/
soapy water.
Natural Methods
• Using natural
barriers to control
insects such as….
▫
▫
▫
▫
Rivers
Woods
Mountains
Predators
Quarantine
• Physically isolating insects from healthy plants.
Combining Methods
• Using a combination of control methods
is called….
▫ Integrated Pest Management (IPM) or….
▫ Integrated Control
Plant Diseases
What is a Disease???
• A plant disorder caused by an infectious
pathogen or agent.
Conditions Needed for a Disease
• Three conditions are necessary for a disease in a
plant.
▫ Host plant
▫ Disease causing organism or pathogen must be
present.
▫ Favorable environment for disease organism to
develop.
The Disease Triangle
What Causes a Disease??
• The groups of pathogens are….
▫
▫
▫
▫
Bacteria
Fungi
Viruses
Parasitic plants
Mistletoe
Dodder
Lichens
FUNGI
Parasitic Plants
MISTLETOE
DODDER
LICHENS
Controlling Diseases
• Warm temperatures and moist conditions in
greenhouse plant production make most
horticulture plant diseases worse because….
▫ Environmental conditions that support diseasecausing pathogens.
• Preventing plant diseases is better than treating
the diseases.
• Plant diseases must be identified before they can
be treated.
Plant Diseases – Blight
• Cause plants to
quickly turn brown
as if they had been
burned.
Plant Diseases – Canker
• Causes open
wounds on woody
plant stems.
Plant Diseases – Damping Off
• A fungal disease that causes young plants and
seedlings to rot off at the soil level.
Plant Diseases – Galls
• Round swellings or growths on plants.
Plant Diseases – Leaf Spots
• Rings of different shades of brown, green,
or yellow that make spots on leaves.
Plant Diseases – Mildew
• Grows on leaf surfaces (both upper & lower)
as white, gray or purple spots.
Plant Diseases – Mosaic
• Caused by viruses
that make the leaves
have irregular
mottled areas with
patterns ranging
from dark green to
light green to yellow
to white.
Plant Diseases – Rot
• Causes plants to
decay & die.
Plant Diseases – Rust
• Causes small spots on leaves that resemble
yellow, orange, brown or red rust mainly on
the underneath side of leaves.
Plant Diseases – Smut
• A black powdery
disease that causes
blisters that burst
open releasing black
spores.
Plant Diseases – Wilts
• Disease that blocks
the uptake of water
in plants stems
causing it to wilt.