Description

Abstract: Barren soil borders, weed border treatments, and caged barren soil were evaluated for their effect on movement of the twospotted spider mite, Tetranychus urticae Koch, into peanut (Arachis hypogaea L.) fields. In field cage tests when a 3, 4.5, or 6 m strip of barren soil separated a source of mite-infestation from initially mite-free peanut, mite damage to peanut was inversely related to the distance of barren soil crossed. In uncaged field tests, similar barren soil borders did not prevent mite movement into peanut fields, however, the number of mites were inversely related to the distance from the field border. There were no significant differences among weed border treatments and total numbers of mites entering peanut fields over time. There were, however, differences among weed border treatments on early mite movement and establishment trends into peanut fields. Mowing weed borders significantly increased the number of aerially dispersing twospotted spider mites within the adjacent peanut field.