Influence of Weed Management on Population of Predacious Arthropods in Apple Orchards

Abstract

The influence of weed management on the population of predacious arthropods: ants, arboreal and wandering spiders, ground beetles, and phytoseiid mites, was researched in apple orchards. As a result, the population of wandering and arboreal spiders was significantly increased in a condition of complete ground cover with natural weeds, compared to weeds partially controlled by herbicides only around apple trunks and stakes, and controlled by herbicides on the entire ground surface.