Beet armyworm and cabbage looper control trials in the Texas High Plains

摘要

Beet armyworms (BAW) infestations were a serious problem on the Texas High Plains during the 2000 crop year, with over 3,000,000 acres involved and yield losses amounting to almost 600,000 bales. Several new insecticides had recently been registeredor been made available through Section 18s. These included: Tracer~(R), Denim~(R), Steward~(R) and Intrepid~(R). Producers were very interested in the comparative effectiveness of the various insecticides because of the threat of severe yield losses andprobable high control costs. There were six tests conducted to evaluate the newer insecticides as well as some of the older chemicals which have activity against caterpillar larvae, especially BAW. Four of these tests were applied with ground application equipment and two were applied through center pivot irrigation systems. The newer insecticides proved to be highly efficacious when applied in the appropriate manner. Preliminary results with chemigation were not very promising for Tracer~(R). The newer insecticides appeared to be more coverage dependent than their older counterparts, especially in larger stature cotton.