Sugarcane Borer (SCB) Control, Small Plot Insecticide Screening Test, 1985

A block of plant cane sugarcane (SCB susceptible commercial variety) located at the St. Gabriel Experiment Station, near Baton Rouge, LA, was divided into plots of 3 rows (1.8 m centers) × 7.31 m (0.004 ha). Insecticide treatments for season-long control of SCB were assigned to plots according to a randomized complete block design with 5 replications. Each spray concentrate was applied to the sugarcane plant canopy in water at 30 psi with a knapsack sprayer that delivered 135 1 finished formulation per hectare per application. Insecticide applications were initiated when SCB infectations exceeded the L.S.U. recommended economic threshold (5% of the stalks containing small SCB larvae in the leafsheaths). Subsequent applications were timed according to SCB resurgence in the plots treated with the recently labeled Pydrin (0.1 lb (AI)/acre). Counts made just prior to the first application revealed a 15% infestation level. Dates for the 3 applications were 12 Jul, 9 and 31 Aug. Season-long control of SCB was evaluated on 17 Oct (just prior to ‘larvest) by examining 25 stalks randomly selected from the center row of each plot for the presence of SCB entrance and exit holes.