Kill the lygus bugs, and you'll likely kill some of the bees. Don't kill the lygus bugs, and you won't get a crop. At the University of Idaho's Parma Research and Extension Center, entomologists are evaluating new chemicals that would be friendlier to bees. They are also examining the lygus-reducing potential of biological control agents. It's finding the right combinations of things to make it work.
Combinations are the scientific focus of ecologists.
To manage alfalfa seed for bee survival, growers would put out fewer bees and keep their flowers blooming later into the season, says Strickler. But the ecological secrets within alfalfa fields will take more than a diagnostic test to unlock.