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Exploring Sustainable Management for Armored Scales in Christmas Tree Plantations

Armored scales are insects that affect the marketability of Christmas trees by causing yellow spots to form on needles, needle loss, and their shipment across state lines on infested trees or greens used in wreaths may be prohibited. In a field test, Dr. Cowles found three insecticides that, when used as foliar sprays targeting newly hatched scales, were as or more effective than the industry standard (dinotefuran). All of these alternatives are less toxic to pollinators than dinotefuran and are likely to be more compatible with beneficial predatory and parasitic insects that feed on armored scales.