Insect Management on Fresh Market Tomatoes, Spring 1997B

Abstract

Abstract On 12 Mar, transplants were set 18 inches apart on raised beds of EauGallie fine sand covered with black plyethylene mulch. Plots were 3-27-ft-long rows on 5-ft centers and were irrigated by a seepage subirrigation system. Insecticidal treatments were replicated 4 times in a randomized complete block design. CGA-293343 25WG was applied with a high-clearance, self-propelled sprayer on 2, 18 Apr, 5, 9, 16, 23, 30 May, and 6 Jun. The sprayer was operated at 200 psi and 3.4 mph and was fitted with eight Al-buz orange nozzles per row delivering 60 gpa for the first application, 90 gpa for the next two applications, and 120 gpa for the remaining 5 applications. The Admire treatment was applied on 31 Mar and the CGA-293343 2SC treatments were applied on 2 Apr in 4 oz water/plant. Because of a very heavy population of southern armyworm larvae, applications of Mattch and Xentari were alternated weekly. All control and yield data were collected on the middle 10 plants of the middle row of each plot. The terminal leaflet was collected from a leaf from the 7th-8th leaf counting from the top of each often plants on 9, 16, 21, 29 Apr, 8, 13, 21, 28 May, 4 and 11 Jun. The numbers of crawlers (1st instar), sessile nymphs (2nd and 3rd instars) and pupae (4th instar or red eye nymphs) of the silverleaf whitefly were counted. All plants in each plot were examined weekly for symptoms of tomato mottle geminivirus (To-MoV) which is vectored by the silverleaf whitefly. All red ripe fruit were harvested on 27 May, 2 and 11 Jun and the fruit were separated by the presence of southern armyworm, thrips (fruit with five or more oviposition dimples on blossom end) and stink bug damage. Fruit were rated \-4 as follows for increasing severity of external symptoms of irregular ripening: ‘ 1’ = fruit without a pronounced yellow star at the blossom end; ‘2’ = a star at the blossom end radiating toward the calyx; ‘3’ or ‘4’ = <30% or >30% of the fruit surface unripened, respectively.