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How to Manage Pests

UC Pest Management Guidelines

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Adult springtail.

Lettuce

Springtails

(Reviewed 8/07, updated 10/09)

In this Guideline:

DESCRIPTION OF THE PEST

Springtails are primitive insects in the insect order Collembola. Their bodies are less than 0.12 inch (3 mm) long, wingless, and with a forked appendage at the tip of the abdomen used for springing into the air.

DAMAGE

Springtails feed on young, tender plant parts in close contact with the ground.

MANAGEMENT

Recent additions of organic matter (e.g., adding compost or incorporating a cover crop) can temporarily increase springtail populations dramatically. Wait until populations return to normal before planting. Currently no products are registered to control this pest in lettuce grown in California.

PUBLICATION

[UC Peer Reviewed]

UC IPM Pest Management Guidelines: Lettuce
UC ANR Publication 3450
Insects and Other Arthropods
E. T. Natwick, UC Cooperative Extension, Imperial County
Acknowledgment for contributions to Insects and Mites:
W. E. Chaney, UC Cooperative Extension, Monterey County
N. C. Toscano, Entomology, UC Riverside

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