- Author: Anne Schellman
- Author: Karey Windbiel-Rojas
Pests have popularity contests too. We recently looked at how many visits our popular Pest Notes publication series received in 2017.
If you aren't familiar, the UC IPM Pest Notes series are science-based publications written and reviewed by experts on specific pest or management topics for California. UC IPM has 169 Pest Notes with some being more popular than others.
Here are the 20 most visited titles in 2017:
1- Carpet Beetles
For the third year in a row, carpet beetles was the most viewed of the UC IPM Pest Notes series on our website! This commonly occurring indoor pest can be accidentally brought into your home on cut flowers or through open doors...
If you've noticed some odd-looking bugs in your garden or landscape recently, you might have leaffooted bugs. These medium to large sized insects feed on certain fruits, fruiting vegetables, nuts and ornamental plants.
Life Cycle
Adult females can lay over 200 eggs during a two-month period during spring. The eggs hatch and the nymphs emerge and can be found together with the adults. During spring and summer, there can be two to three generations of leaffooted bugs in your landscape!
In spring, leaffooted plant bugs often feed on thistles and other weeds. When fruits start to ripen, adults migrate into gardens and landscapes and can be found feeding on tomatoes, pomegranates, and citrus as well as ornamental...
/h2>- Author: Chuck Ingels
- Author: David Robert Haviland
[From the July 2014 issue of the UC IPM Retail Nursery & Garden Center News]
In recent years, you may have seen a strange “new” bug in your garden, especially on tomatoes and pomegranates. These insects may be leaffooted bugs. Although they are native to the western United States and not new to California, leaffooted bugs seem to be occurring more commonly in gardens. These distinctive bugs get their name from the small leaf-like enlargements on the hind leg (Figure 1). They are medium to large sized insects that prefer to feed on fruits and seeds and are often found in...
/span>An army of leaffooted bugs attacking pomegranates, tomatoes or other plants in your garden can be quite disconcerting. They are large, long-legged bugs with a big appetite for fruits and seeds. After overwintering as adults in protected areas such as wood piles or outbuildings, they emerge to feed on seeds of winter weeds and then head out to farms and gardens in search of early season fruit and a place to lay eggs.
To learn more about identification, biology and management of these bugs, read the newly published Pest Note: Leaffooted Bugs authored by Chuck Ingels, UCCE Sacramento County and David Haviland, UCCE Kern County.