With the produce season quickly approaching, now is a good time to reflect on the status of key insect pests you should expect to encounter this season.  For the past 19 years, the UA Vegetable IPM Team has annually surveyed PCAs and growers to document insect pest activity, economic costs of insect management and insecticide usage in Arizona lettuce through interactive workshops held each spring. The results summarized following these workshops can be very useful to the lettuce industry by providing information for addressing state and federal regulatory issues, prioritize research and educational activities, and translate the PCA’s activities into economic terms for their growers.  In a recent VegIPM update (Vol 14, No.13, Jun 28), we discussed interesting trends in insecticide usage on desert lettuce based on the results of these workshops that can be downloaded from this link Insecticide Usage on Conventional and Organic Lettuce in the Desert, 2022-23.   Just recently we summarized the remaining data collected in the workshop surveys. Summarized over the past nineteen years (2005-2023), the survey data provides “real world” information on the pest status of key insect species, economics of insect management, and estimates of yield losses in lettuce. A quick analysis of the summary clearly shows that insect management in desert lettuce is effective, very intensive, and can be expensive.  Specifically, surveys completed by PCAs represent a large proportion of the lettuce acres grown in the desert.  Not surprising, the surveys showed that annually 100% of the acres are scouted for desert lettuce pests and lettuce fields are visited >4 times per week.  In terms of pest status, the Lepidoptera larvae complex (beet armyworm/ cabbage looper/corn earworm), western flower thrips, aphids and seedling, soil pests are the most economically important insects attacking desert lettuce crops based on treated acres, numbers of spray applications, and yield losses associated with each pest. In terms of yield losses, average estimated loss from any one pest never exceeded 1% in either fall or spring lettuce. Given the unpredictable insect pressure experienced each season, PCAs should be commended for their capability of keeping insect losses to such low levels over a 19-year period. However, it is important to note that this was accomplished largely by the considerable expense and time invested by PCAs in scouting for these pests, and certainly by the significant investment in insecticide and application costs used each season to prevent these key pests from causing economic damage to lettuce crops. For the 2023 season, data indicated that insect pressure was quite variable on fall lettuce. Aphid pressure during the spring was very heavy, comparable to 2022, but western flower thrips were as low as we’ve seen it in many years. Our unusually cool winter weather was ideal for aphids and detrimental to thrips population growth      Bottom line:  IPM in desert lettuce crops is effective, but at a cost. As my Free Enterprise teacher at B.U.H.S. used to say:  TANSTAFL (There ain’t no such thing as a free lunch).   A copy of the complete, summarized report can be downloaded from this link:  Trends in Insect Losses and Management on Desert Lettuce:  A 19-Year Summary.