Changes in the Relative Abundance of Soil-Dwelling Insect Pests in Sugarcane Grown in Florida

Abstract

Sugarcane (Saccharum spp.) is an important field crop grown in southern Florida. White grubs (Scarabaeidae) and wireworms (Elateridae) historically and currently are important soil insect pests of the crop. Twenty sugarcane fields on muck soil (Histosols) were sampled for soil insect pests during 2015 and 2016. No new unknown soil insect pests were found. The recently established sugarcane root weevil, Diaprepes abbreviatus (L.), was rarely found in samples. Interestingly, the once very important grub pest, Tomarus subtropicus (Blatchley) was not detected. And, last, fewer wireworms and especially grubs were found in shallow muck fields than deep muck fields.