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LinkedInPosts Tagged: Bagrada bug
A disheartening new pest invades California vegetable gardens
“Citizen scientists have been instrumental in reporting the occurrence of bagrada in various counties and are helping map its current distribution,” said Surendra Dara, UC Cooperative Extension advisor in San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara and Ventura counties. “This is a very serious pest. It is wiping out gardens, and is of great concern for small-scale and organic growers.”
Bagrada bugs are major pests of cruciferous vegetables, such as cabbage, kale, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts and broccoli, but they don't appear to be picky eaters. They have been known to feed on a wide variety of garden vegetables in California, including green beans, cantaloupe, corn, peppers, potatoes, tomatoes and sunflower. Even landscape plants are not immune. Bagrada bugs have been found feeding on ornamental plants in the mustard family, like sweet alyssum, stock and candytuft.
Dara said scientists had hoped cold winter temperatures in northern counties of California would limit the bagrada's northward march, but that hasn't been the case so far.
“Bagrada bugs can survive the winter or cold nights by entering the top layer of the soil around crops,” he said. "They start appearing again in early spring and move from weeds to young vegetables."
For more information on bagrada bugs, see the Pest Note produced by the UC Integrated Pest Management Program. In addition, Dara regularly posts bagrada bug updates on his blog, Strawberries and Vegetables.
Distribution of bagrada bug in California, September 2014.
The Role of Weeds in the Mustard Family in the Spread of Bagrada Bug in Monterey County
Bagrada bug, Bagrada hillaris is a new invasive insect that arrived in the Salinas Valley in the summer of 2013. It is a potential pest of cole crops which is of particular concern in Monterey County which has 97,830 acres of cole crops and other crops in the mustard family including bok choy,...
Desert farmers face a new pest threat
Farmers growing vegetables in Southern California and Arizona deserts had to contend with a new pest this fall. The Bagrada bug - a native of East and Southern Africa, Egypt, Zaire and Senegal - made its first appearance in the area, posing especially significant problems to organic farmers, according to an article in Capital Press.
Bagrada bugs were introduced to California last year in Los Angeles and San Diego counties. This past August, farmers began seeing the pest in broccoli, cauliflower, and other cole crops in the Imperial and Coachella valleys, and in southwestern Arizona.“Bagrada bugs were everywhere; it’s not like we’ve had to look for them,” the story quoted John Palumbo, an extension specialist at the University of Arizona Yuma Agricultural Center.
According to UC Riverside’s Center for Invasive Species Research, adult Bagrada bugs are 5 to 7 millimeters long with black, shield-shaped bodies and distinctive white and orange markings. The adult female is larger than the male.
Bagrada bugs suck sap from young leaves causing small white patches on leaf edges. The damage can prevent the plant from producing edible vegetable heads or can cause double heads that are too small for market. Severe Bagrada feeding can kill the plant.
Capital Press reporter Cary Blake spoke to UC Cooperative Extension Imperial County farm advisor Eric Natwick about the Bagrada bug situation for California desert farmers. Natwick said he saw major Bagrada bug damage in an organically grown red cabbage field in Holtville in late October.
“I’d estimate about 30 percent of the early September-planted transplants developed single heads,” Natwick was quoted. “The other plants (about 70 percent) had no head or two smaller, unmarketable heads.”
Natwick found higher single-head numbers in mid-to-late September-planted cabbage. The field contained adults, nymphs, and eggs.
Female and male Bagrada bugs. (Photo: LA Ag Commissioner's office)
