Cabbage Looper Control on Cauliflower, 1977

Trials were conducted on ’Snowball X’ variety of cauliflower, grown on Laveen clay loam at the University of Arizona, Mesa Branch Station. Seed was planted in a dry seed bed on August 11, 1977, and furrow irrigated. Planting was with a Stanhay precision planter on 40-inch-wide beds with 2 seed rows per bed. Plots were 25 ft long by four beds wide and replicated four times in a randomized complete block. Sprays were applied with a CO2-pressurized back-pack sprayer, operating at 50-55 psi and applying 35 gallons of spray mixture per acre. Initially sprays were applied with a hand boom having 1 hollow-conenozzle per plant row. As the plants became larger, 2 hollow-cone nozzles per row were used to obtain better coverage. All plots were sprayed September 6 with Lannate at 0.45 lb ai/acre to protect the seedling stand. Regular spray treatments were applied September 22, 29, October 5, 12, and 20 for a total of five applications. Insect counts for cabbage looper eggs and larve were made by examining 10 plants picked at random from the middle two beds of each plot. Looper larvae were classified as small, medium, and large, which is recorded here as looper larvae.