The action of ‘early‐season’ sprays of chlorbenside against fruit tree red spider mite

Abstract

AbstractAn account is given of the action of chlorbenside when applied just before, or during, the hatching of the winter eggs of fruit tree red spider mite. The results obtained show that the persistent larvicidal effects of spray residues on the foliage were more important to the action of the chemical than the direct kill of winter eggs.The growth of the foliage during the hatching period of the mites was assessed on different varieties of apple. This was a factor which affected the efficiency of application by ‘thinning out’ spray deposits, but if application were made later than the time by which adult mites had developed, usually at ‘petal fall’, mite damage to the foliage resulted.There was evidence that the increase in leaf area during this period was more marked on Worcester than on Cox but there was no evidence that this reduced the efficiency of preblossom application on Worcester as compared to Cox.