Cultural and biological control (Common green capsid)

Cultural control measures can significantly reduce common green capsid outbreaks in orchards.

  • Rootstock sucker growths, which often harbour the pest, should be removed and destroyed in winter.
  • Unfortunately, other beneficial capsid bugs, such as Blepharidopterus angulatus, deposit their eggs in the same place.
  • Weeds growing in the herbicide strip under the tree, especially Compositae (e.g. mayweed), act as a summer host for the pest.
  • These should be mown or destroyed before the second generation of adults mature in the late summer or autumn.
  • Isolation from hedgerows, woodland and windbreaks reduces the incidence of the pest, but the benefits of proximity to such habitats and the shelter they provide is usually considered to be a net benefit, because of the occurrence of beneficial insects.