Section 4 Entomology
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"SNA RESEARCH CONFERENCE - VOL. 38-1993" SECTION 4 ENTOMOLOGY Dr. Kris Braman, Section Chairman and Dr. Beveraly Sparks, Moderator 153 "SNA RESEARCH CONFERENCE - VOL. 38-1993" Control of Sweetpotato Whitefly with Insect Growth Regulators in the Greenhouse William G. Hudson Georgia Nature of Work: The Sweet Potato Whitefly, Bemisia tobaci (Gennadius), is a major pest of greenhouse-grown crops in the United States. Control of these pests with conventional chemical insecticides can be very difficult and expensive. The whitefly developes resistance to insecticides quickly (1), and growers are usually encouraged to rotate materials to avoid this problem (2). One approach has been to rely on “alternative” materials, such as insecticidal soaps, horticultural oils, and insect growth regulators, early in the crop cycle and save the more effective (and often more toxic) materials for later when the plants are bigger and closer to market and control is more critical. Unfortunately, this means that the grower applies materials that are generally less effective at a time when plants are smaller and the whiteflies are most vulnerable. The question posed in this study was whether insect growth regulators could prevent sweetpotato whitefly from colonizing new growth of two host plants, poinsettia (Euphorbia pulcherrima) and hibiscus (Hibiscus rosa-sinensis), after routine pruning was performed to stimulate branching in young plants. Materials tested were kinoprene (Enstar II), fenoxycarb (currently registered as Logic/Award fire ant bait and Torus flea control), and Margosan-O, an extract of the neem tree. Bifenthrin (Talstar 10WP) was used as the “conventional” treatment for comparison. Rates applied are listed in the tables. Enstar was applied alone and tank-mixed with Sunspray Ultrafine Oil at 1% of the finished solution. The experiment was run twice. The first application was made using poinsettias (V-14) in 6 in. pots with 4-5 leaves that had been pinched 3 days before. Treatments were replicated 10 times with individual plants acting as replications. The second run used small hibiscus in 1 gal pots that had been pruned the previous week, with 5 replications per treat- ment. All plants in each run had low-level sweetpotato whitefly infesta- tions. At each treatment, plants were sprayed to run-off using a hand- held compressed air sprayer. Timing of applications was the same for both runs. Initial application was made on a Monday and the plants were retreated twice at 7 day intervals for a total of 3 applications. 154 "SNA RESEARCH CONFERENCE - VOL. 38-1993" Pretreatment samples were collected immediately prior to initial applica- tion of test materials by picking at random 20 (poinsettia run) or 50 (hibiscus run) leaves from the test plants. These leaves were taken to the laboratory and all 2nd and 3rd instar immatures were counted under a stereomicroscope. On the third day following the last treatment of each run (17 days after initial application), one new growth leaf and one older leaf was removed from each plant and the 2nd and 3rd instar immatures were counted. An additional set of new growth samples was collected from the hibiscus 7 days after the first sample date (10 days after the last application). Data were analyzed by ANOVA and means separated by LSD. Results and Discussion: The addition of horticultural oil to the Enstar treatment did not improve control in either test. Only fenoxycarb pro- duced significant reductions in whitefly infestation levels on poinsettia compared to untreated controls, and then only new growth infestation levels were affected (Table 1). This is in striking contrast to the results from the hibiscus test, where all treatments produced significant reduc- tions in whitefly populations on new growth leaves (Table 2). The results were so different that a second set of new growth samples was taken from the hibiscus to confirm the counts. Again, all treatments except Margosan-0 were significantly lower than the untreated controls. There was no effect in either test on whitefly infestation levels on older leaves, which were present and infested prior to initial application. This was not unexpected since insect growth regulators do not kill the insects immediately, but rather interfere with molting and prevent the pests from completing development. These materials are usually more effective if applied early in the life cycle, as with those whiteflies hatching from eggs laid on new leaves during the experiment. Significance to Industry: Although there is some ambiguity in these results, it is encouraging to find that insect growth regulators can be used to prevent infestation of young plants by sweetpotato whitefly, allowing the grower to save those effective insecticides that are still available for the later stages of the production cycle when coverage is more difficult to obtain and control is crucial. This tactic should also help avoid the problem of insecticidal resistance developing in local popula- tions of this important pest. Literature Cited: 1. Dittrich, V., S. Uk, and G.H. Ernst. 1990. Chemical control and insecti- cide resistance of whiteflies. pp. 2-63-285 In D. Gerling (ed.), Whiteflies: their bionomics, pest status and management. Intercept Ltd., U.K. 155 "SNA RESEARCH CONFERENCE - VOL. 38-1993" 2. Price, J.F., D. Schuster and D. Short. 1986. Managing sweetpotato whitefly. Greenhouse Grower. December 1986:55-57. Table 1. Sweetpotato whitefly control on poinsettia. Treatment Rate/100 gal. Mean Immatures/Leaf (Std. Dev.)* New Growth Old Growth Enstar II 5 oz. 15.6 (24.1)a 28.4 (36.0)a Enstar II + 1% UFO 5 oz. 16.5 (21.8)a 21.4 (14.8)a Fenoxycarb 5.3 oz. 20.2 (31.0)a 22.6 (33.16)a Fenoxycarb 10.7 oz. 7.6 (12.0)a 25.2 (29.07)a Fenoxycarb 21.4 oz. 2.5 (4.3)b 38.2 (22.14)a Margosan-O 3 pts. 9.7 (12.0)a 14.8 (35.7)a Talstar 12 oz. 31.8 (28.5)a 51.8 (36.9)a Control 16.9 (13.3)a 21.4 (19.8)a Pre-treatment mean = 5.9, SD = 11.11, N = 20 new growth leaves *Means in the same column followed by the same letter are not signifi- cantly different (LSD, P = 0.05). Table 2. Sweetpotato whitefly control on hibiscus. Treatment Rate/100 gal. Mean Immatures/Leaf (Std. Dev.)* 1st Week 2nd Week New Growth Old Growth New Enstar II 5 oz. 12.2 (20.3)a 10.2 (7.3)a 4.4 (9.3)a Enstar II + 1% UFO 5 oz. 18.0 (27.2)a 2.8 (5.7)a 0.6 (1.3)a Fenoxycarb - 5.3 oz. 1.4 (2.0)a 1.8 (1.6)a 2.2 (2.9)a Fenoxycarb 10.7 oz. 11.6 (l9.1)a 10.2 (10.1)a 2.6 (5.8)a Fenoxycarb 21.4 oz. 3.8 (8.5)a 3.6 (4.0)a 1.8 (2.5)a Margosan- O 3 pts. 2.0 (3.39)a 6.2 (9.0)a 9.8 (11.7)ab Talstar 12 oz. 4.4 (5.9)a 3.8 (4.5)a 5.6 (6.8)a Control 82.0 (87.5)b 3.2 (3.0)a 28.2 (41.7)b Pre-treatment mean = 5.5 pupae/leaf, SD = 9.77, N = 50 leaves *Means in the same column followed by the same letter are not signifi- cantly different (LSD, P = 0.05). 156 "SNA RESEARCH CONFERENCE - VOL. 38-1993" Integrated Pest Management Program for a Native Plant Production Nursery Operation K. Marc Teffeau and Sue M. Mclninch Maryland Nature of Work: Use of Integrated Pest Management (IPM) programs in commercial ornamental nursery production is now an accepted practice (1). The majority of the plant species and cultivars in production are the traditional woody and herbaceous omamentals used for land- scaping purposes (1,3). Little IPM work has been done in conventional or wet culture production systems that are concerned with the produc- tion of native and wetland species of woody ornamentals, grasses and aquatic plants for wetlands mitigation. Many of the native plant materials, especially wetland species, are either not listed on pesticide labels or the specific insect and/or disease pest that attack them are not listed. These include herbaceous wetland species such as Peltandra virginica (Arrow arum), Polygonum densiflorum (Dense-flower smartweed) and Sagittaria latifolia (Duck potato), woody shrubs like Cephalanthus occidentalis (Buttonbush) and Iva frutescens (High-tide bush) and trees such as Aralia spinosa (Devil’s walking stick). Concentration of these plant materials in a production system can result in the appearance of insect and disease pest species at damaging levels normally not found in their native settings. There is a need to develop specific pest control methods for the plant material in question with the emphasis on finding the most environmentally sensitive tech- niques to mitigate and control the pest damage to the plants while maintaining saleable quality(2). In 1992 a pilot IPM program was initiated at a native plant nursery on the Eastern Shore of Maryland. Weekly scouting of the plant material was done at the nursery operation to develop baseline data on insect and diseases present and the time of appearance. In addition to the weekly scouting, Trece’ pheromone traps for Nantucket Pine Tip Moth (Rhyacionia frustrana) and Lilac/Ash Borer (Podosesia syringae) were used to determine emergence dates. In 1993, the monitoring program has been expanded to two scoutings a week and addition of pheromone trapping for European Pine Shoot Moth (Rhyacionia buoliana). To correlate degree days with pest emergence, a maximum - minimum thermometer and a Omnidata Model TA51 Biophenometer were placed in the nursery and temperatures and accumulated degree days were recorded.