CONTROL OF TOMATO PINWORM AND SOUTHERN ARMYWORM ON STAKED TOMATO, 2007

Tomato pinworm is a late season pest of tomato, egg plant and potato in Florida, producing blotch mines in leaves and damaged fruit which in tomato, often consists of small larval entry holes hidden beneath the calyx and difficult to detect during commercial grading. Southern Armyworm is usually a fall pest of tomato but may also appear late in the spring season as was the case in this trial. Greenhouse-raised seedlings of the TYLCV resistant variety ‘TYgress’ were planted on 16 Mar at 18-inch spacing on 2 beds. Beds were 32 inches wide, 240 ft long on 6 ft centers, covered with black polyethylene film. Each bed was divided into 8 plots, each 30 ft long and the 16 plots assigned to 3 treatments and control in a randomized complete block (RCB) design with 4 replications. Approximately 25 % of the granular fertilizer (15-0-15) was preplant soil incorporated to account for the seasonal application and remainder applied as liquid 8 – 08, 5 times a week through the drip tape. Admire Pro at 8.5 fl oz/acre was applied by soil drench to all plants on 19-Mar. In addition, maintenance fungicides Kocide 2000 and Manzate 75 DF were applied twice weekly to control foliar diseases at rates of 2 lbs and 1 or 2 lbs per 100 gal, respectively. Due to the presence of late blight, a rotation spray of Ridomil Gold, Tanos and Ranman was also applied every 3-5 days from 5Apr to 21May. All sprays were applied with a high clearance sprayer operating at 200 psi and 2.3 mph with two vertical booms using yellow ATR 80 hollow cone nozzles delivered 10 gpa. As nozzles were added the gpa increased, but the product rate per acre was kept constant by adjusting concentation. Applications began at 40 gpa and ended at 80 gpa at crop maturity. TPW presence and damage was monitored on 10, 17, 24, and 31May by choosing one leaflet randomly from the lower portion of 20 plants in each plot. The number of TPW mines and larvae were counted on each of the leaflets. Twelve plants from the center section of each plot were harvested on 30-May and 11-Jun and fruit was graded as marketable or culls. Marketable fruit was sorted by size according to USDA standards and damage determined to have been caused by TPW or SAW. Fruit with any signs of pinworm feeding under the calyx was considered culled regardless of the presence/absence of larvae. Data were subjected to ANOVA, and means were separated with Fisher’s Protected LSD, P = 0.05.