TY - JOUR T1 - Management Considerations for the Azalea Lace Bug in Landscape Habitats JF - Arboriculture & Urban Forestry (AUF) JO - JOA SP - 63 LP - 68 DO - 10.48044/jauf.1995.011 VL - 21 IS - 2 AU - Robert B. Trumbule AU - Robert F. Denno AU - Michael J. Raupp Y1 - 1995/03/01 UR - http://auf.isa-arbor.com/content/21/2/63.abstract N2 - The azalea lace bug is a severe pest of ornamental azaleas throughout much of eastern North America. Reports in the literature suggest that lace bugs occur more abundantly and damage azaleas more frequently in sunny, exposed landscapes compared to more shaded plantings. By measuring the light intensity over azalea plants in four damage categories (high, moderate, low and no damage), we were able to rigorously confirm this reported pattern. The highest light intensities were recorded over azaleas incurring the most lace bug damage and the lowest light intensities were registered over plants in the low damage categories. A survey of the literature showed that although caged lace bugs perform and reproduce best on shade-grown azalea plants, uncaged lace bugs do not survive well at all in shaded habitats where they apparently suffer higher mortality from natural enemies. Invertebrate predators such as spiders are implicated in relegating lace bugs to azaleas in sunny habitats where although lace bug performance is reduced on light- and water-stressed plants, overall survival is greatest. Infestations of lace bugs may be minimized by planting azaleas in shaded landscapes with mixed vegetation that provide refuge for invertebrate predators. ER -