EARLY-SEASON CONTROL OF TOBACCO FLEA BEETLES ON FLUE-CURED TOBACCO, 2002

This study was conducted at the Virginia Tech Southern Piedmont Agricultural Research and Extension Center, Blackstone, VA to evaluate the performance of various insecticides for Tobacco flea beetle (TFB) control on flue-cured tobacco. Experiments assessed insecticides applied as soil (PPI and Band), tray drench (TD), transplant water (TW) and foliar treatments for the control of TFB. This test also assessed soil insect control, but soil insect populations were too low to provide meaningful results. Tobacco 'NC 297' was transplanted into experimental plots 4 x 40 ft (1 row x 25 plants) and separated by untreated border rows on 15 May. Nine treatments and an untreated check were established in a RCB design with four replications (Table 1). The Lorsban broadcast treatment was applied with a CO2-pressurized tractor sprayer that delivered 40 gpa through 8004 tips at 36 psi and incorporated by double disking. Temik and Capture 1.15 G were applied with a tractor-mounted Gandy granular applicator as the land was being bedded on 13 May. Immediately after transplanting, the transplant water treatments were applied with a hand dipper that delivered the chemicals in 4 fl oz/plant (185 gpa) on 15 May. Foliar treatments of Capture and Orthene were applied with a CO2-pressurized backpack sprayer that delivered 25 gpa and 50 psi through TX-10 nozzles (three/row) on 1 Jul (Table 1). Fertilization, harvest, topping, and weed, disease and sucker control followed recommendations of the Virginia Cooperative Extension Service. TFB and TFB feeding holes on 10 plants/plot were counted about once a wk from 23 May (8 days after transplanting) to 8 Jul (54 days after transplanting). Data were analyzed by ANOVA and significantly different means were separated by WD (kratio = 100). Before analysis, TFB feeding hole and GPA counts were transformed to log (x+1). Actual means are presented in the tables.