Cranberry Station Best Management Practices Guide - 2000 Edition
Title
Subject Area
Cranberry industry., Cranberry Station (University of Massachusetts at Amherst), Pests and diseases, Best Management Practices
Publication Date
1996
Abstract
Minimizing damage to the plants and crop by insect pests is one of the most important challenges in cranberry production. Failure to manage pest insects properly can result in severe crop loss, vine damage, or in extreme cases, the death of large areas of the bog. The most effective insect management strategy is an integrated approach using scouting techniques to monitor insect populations. Cultural, biological, or chemical control measures are applied only when the pest pressure (insect population) reaches an action threshold. The action or economic threshold is the ‘break even’ point where damage by a certain pest population begins to exceed the cost of the control measure (usually a biological or chemical pesticide application). The threshold number varies depending on the potential of a given insect species to cause economic damage.