Trap crops help control sucking insect pests in tomatoes

Leaf-footed bugs will feed and reproduce on trap crops like sunflower and silage sorghum as long as the trap crops were in good condition. It is desirable to know the migration pattern of these bugs so that the trap crops can be planted in the best possible manner. In large plot studies, only 12 to 15 percent land area with trap crop mixture around the border of tomato fields worked very well. It is not necessary to surround a tomato field with trap crops if logistics are a challenge.