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Sacrificial Plant
A trap crop is a plant that attracts agricultural pests, usually insects, away from nearby crops. This form of companion planting can save the main crop from decimation by pests without the use of pesticides. /sup> A trap crop is used for attracting the insect and pests away from the field. /sup> Many trap crops have successfully diverted pests off of focal crops in small scale greenhouse, garden and field experiments; a small portion of these plants have been shown to reduce pest damage at larger commercial scales. A common explanation for reported trap cropping failures, is that attractive trap plants only protect nearby plants if the insects do not move back into the main crop. In a review of 100 trap cropping examples in 2006, only 10 trap crops were classified as successful at a commercial scale, and in all successful cases, trap cropping was supplemented with management practices that specifically limited insect dispersal from the trap crop back into the main crop. Examples ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Companion Planting
Companion planting in gardening and agriculture is the planting of different crops in proximity for any of a number of different reasons, including pest control, pollination, providing habitat for beneficial insects, maximizing use of space, and to otherwise increase crop productivity. Companion planting is a form of polyculture. Companion planting is used by farmers and gardeners in both industrialized and developing countries for many reasons. Many of the modern principles of companion planting were present many centuries ago in forest gardens in Asia, and thousands of years ago in Mesoamerica. History In China, mosquito ferns (''Azolla'' spp.) have been used for at least a thousand years as companion plants for rice crops. They host a cyanobacterium (''Anabaena azollae'') that fixes nitrogen from the atmosphere, and they block light from plants that would compete with the rice. Companion planting was practiced in various forms by the indigenous peoples of the Americas pr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Caterpillar
Caterpillars ( ) are the larval stage of members of the order Lepidoptera (the insect order comprising butterflies and moths). As with most common names, the application of the word is arbitrary, since the larvae of sawflies (suborder Symphyta) are commonly called caterpillars as well. Both lepidopteran and symphytan larvae have eruciform body shapes. Caterpillars of most species eat plant material ( often leaves), but not all; some (about 1%) eat insects, and some are even cannibalistic. Some feed on other animal products. For example, clothes moths feed on wool, and horn moths feed on the hooves and horns of dead ungulates. Caterpillars are typically voracious feeders and many of them are among the most serious of agricultural pests. In fact, many moth species are best known in their caterpillar stages because of the damage they cause to fruits and other agricultural produce, whereas the moths are obscure and do no direct harm. Conversely, various species of caterpi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Brachiaria Brizantha
''Urochloa brizantha'' ( syn. ''Brachiaria brizantha'') is a species of grass known by the common name palisade grass. It is often used as a forage for livestock. Other common names include palisade signal grass, bread grass, Mauritius grass,Cook, B. G., et al''Brachiaria brizantha''.Tropical Forages. CSIRO, DPI&F (Queensland), CIAT and ILRI, Brisbane, Australia. 2005. Surinam grass, USFS. Pacific Island Ecosystems at Risk (PIER). large-seeded millet grass, big ashama,Quattrocchi, U. ''CRC World Dictionary of Grasses: Common Names, Scientific Names, Eponyms, Synonyms, and Etymology, Volume 1.'' CRC Press. 2006. pg. 335. Ceylon sheep grass, St. Lucia grass (),Heuzé V., Tran G., ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Napier Grass
''Cenchrus purpureus'', synonym ''Pennisetum purpureum'', also known as Napier grass, elephant grass or Uganda grass, is a species of perennial tropical grass native to the African grasslands. arrell, G., Simons, S. A., & Hillocks, R. J. (2002). Pests, diseases, and weeds of Napier grass, ''Pennisetum purpureum'': a review. International Journal of Pest Management, 48(1), 39-48./ref> It has low water and nutrient requirements, and therefore can make use of otherwise uncultivated lands. trezov, V., Evans, T. J., & Hayman, C. (2008). Thermal conversion of elephant grass ''Pennisetum purpureum'' Schum) to biogas, bio-oil and charcoal. Bioresources Technology, 99, 8394-8399.] Historically, this wild species has been used primarily for grazing, recently, however, it has been used as part of a push–pull agricultural pest management strategy. Napier grasses improve soil fertility, and protect arid land from soil erosion. It is also utilized for firebreaks, windbreaks, in paper pul ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cucumber Beetle
Cucumber beetle is a common name given to members of two genera of beetles, ''Diabrotica'' and ''Acalymma'', both in the family Chrysomelidae. The adults can be found on cucurbits such as cucumbers and a variety of other plants. Many are notorious pests of agricultural crops. The larvae of several cucumber beetles are known as corn rootworms. Some well-known pests include the western corn rootworm (''D. virgifera virgifera''), the spotted cucumber beetle and its larva, the southern corn rootworm (''D. undecimpunctata''), the cucurbit beetle (''D. speciosa''), the banded cucumber beetle (''D. balteata''), the northern corn rootworm (''D. barberi''), the striped cucumber beetle (''A. vittatum''), and the western striped cucumber beetle (''A. trivittatum''). The insects live about eight weeks, during which time both larva and adult feed on plants. Adults will attack the tender young growth of stems and leaves, and the buds and petals on mature specimens. They also carry ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Coreidae
Coreidae is a large family of predominantly sap-sucking insects in the Hemipteran suborder Heteroptera. The name "Coreidae" derives from the genus ''Coreus'', which derives from the Ancient Greek () meaning bedbug. As a family, the Coreidae are cosmopolitan, but most of the species are tropical or subtropical. Common names and significance The common names of the Coreidae vary regionally. Leaf-footed bug refers to leaf-like expansions on the legs of some species, generally on the hind tibiae. In North America, the pest status of species such as ''Anasa tristis'' on squash plants and other cucurbits gave rise to the name squash bugs. The Coreidae are called twig-wilters or tip-wilters in parts of Africa and Australia because many species feed on young twigs, injecting enzymes that macerate the tissues of the growing tips and cause them to wilt abruptly. Morphology and appearance The Coreidae commonly are oval-shaped, with antennae composed of four segments, numerous veins in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Squash Vine Borer
The squash vine borer (''Melittia cucurbitae'') is a diurnal species of sesiid moth. The moth is often mistaken for a bee or wasp because of its movements, and the bright orange hind leg scales. The females typically lay their eggs at the base of leaf stalks, and the caterpillars develop and feed inside the stalk, eventually killing the leaf. They soon migrate to the main stem, and with enough feeding damage to the stem, the entire plant may die. For this reason, it is considered a pest that attacks cultivated varieties of squash, zucchini, pumpkin, and acorn squash. The squash vine borer is native to North America, with some reports as far south as Brazil and Argentina. It lives in most temperate North American states, except the Pacific coast. Southern states have two broods a year. Control Pesticides are ineffective after the larvae are inside the plant. Gardeners find this a difficult pest to combat. Some try to avoid the pest by timing the production season to harvest be ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cucurbitaceae
The Cucurbitaceae, also called cucurbits or the gourd family, are a plant family consisting of about 965 species in around 95 genera, of which the most important to humans are: *''Cucurbita'' – squash, pumpkin, zucchini, some gourds *''Lagenaria'' – calabash, and others that are inedible *''Citrullus'' – watermelon (''C. lanatus'', ''C. colocynthis'') and others *''Cucumis'' – cucumber (''C. sativus''), various melons and vines *''Momordica'' – bitter melon *''Luffa'' – the common name is also luffa, sometimes spelled loofah (when fully ripened, two species of this fibrous fruit are the source of the loofah scrubbing sponge) *''Cyclanthera'' – Caigua The plants in this family are grown around the tropics and in temperate areas, where those with edible fruits were among the earliest cultivated plants in both the Old and New Worlds. The family Cucurbitaceae ranks among the highest of plant families for number and percentage of species used as human food. The name ' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jim Cochran
Jim Cochran is an organic strawberry farmer, who was the first person to grow strawberries organically on a commercial scale in California. Early life Cochran was born in Carlsbad, California in 1947. Education Cochran studied child development and European intellectual history at the University of California, Santa Cruz in the late 1960s, where he became interested in alternative farming methods. Career Cochran began his commercial farming career growing strawberries using conventional methods, but switched to organic farming methods after he was nearly poisoned by pesticides and, as a result of this experience, questioned the effect that the chemicals had on his workers. In 1983, he started Swanton Berry Farm, located North of Santa Cruz, California, in Davenport, California. In 1987, his farm became the first CCOF-certified organic strawberry farm in the State of California. He subsequently developed a wide range of new methods, which include crop rotations, suc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Trap Crop
A trap crop is a plant that attracts agricultural pests, usually insects, away from nearby crops. This form of companion planting can save the main crop from decimation by pests without the use of pesticides. /sup> A trap crop is used for attracting the insect and pests away from the field. /sup> Many trap crops have successfully diverted pests off of focal crops in small scale greenhouse, garden and field experiments; a small portion of these plants have been shown to reduce pest damage at larger commercial scales. A common explanation for reported trap cropping failures, is that attractive trap plants only protect nearby plants if the insects do not move back into the main crop. In a review of 100 trap cropping examples in 2006, only 10 trap crops were classified as successful at a commercial scale, and in all successful cases, trap cropping was supplemented with management practices that specifically limited insect dispersal from the trap crop back into the main crop. Examples ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lygus
The genus ''Lygus'' includes over 40 species of plant-feeding insects in the family Miridae. The term lygus bug is used for any member of genus ''Lygus''. Species At one time, nearly 200 species were classified as genus ''Lygus'', but most of those have since been reclassified into new or existing genera. Species within this genus include: * '' Lygus abroniae'' * '' Lygus aeratus'' * '' Lygus atriflavus'' * '' Lygus atritibialis'' * '' Lygus borealis'' * '' Lygus bradleyi'' * '' Lygus ceanothi'' * '' Lygus convexicollis'' * '' Lygus elisus'' * '' Lygus gemellatus'' * '' Lygus hesperus'' * '' Lygus humeralis'' * '' Lygus keltoni'' * ''Lygus lineolaris'' * '' Lygus lupini'' * '' Lygus maritimus'' * '' Lygus mexicanus'' * '' Lygus oregonae'' * '' Lygus perplexus'' * '' Lygus plagiatus'' * '' Lygus potentillae'' * '' Lygus pratensis'' * '' Lygus punctatus'' * '' Lygus robustus'' * '' Lygus rolfsi'' * '' Lygus rubroclarus'' * '' Lygus rubrosignatus'' * '' Lygus rufidorsus'' * '' Lygus ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
