Foliar Sprays to Control Insects on Snap Beans, Painter, VA

Snap beans were planted at the Eastern Shore Agricultural Research and Extension Center, Painter, VA on 10 Aug. Each plot consisted of a 25 ft row, bordered on each side by an untreated guard row, and with 3 ft spacing between rows. Each plot was replicated four times in a randomized, complete block design. Sprays were applied on 31 Aug, 12 and 20 Sep with a backpack sprayer using 3 hollow cone nozzles/row and delivering 60 gal water/acre at 40 psi. KW 556 pre-dissolved soluble film was added to each DPX YB 656 treatment at 3% AI to AI. Evaluation criteria consisted of thrips counts on 5 trifoliate leaves/plot on 7 Sep. These leaves were washed in soapy water, and the soapy water was then filtered through a Buchner funnel. The resulting insects were counted under a stereoscopic microscope. On 6 Oct, 50 pods were handpicked from each plot and examined for insect damage, and then the plots were mechanically harvested and weighed to determine total yields. An estimation of yield loss was evaluated based on the percent damaged pods/50 pods and subtracted from the total yields. These yields and the estimated yield loss are reported in the table.