Evaluation of Insecticides for Control of Insect pests of Tomatoes, 1982

Plots were direct seeded Jan 19 in Rockdale soil. Plots were thinned to 1 plant per foot. Each plot was a single row on 6-ft centers, 15 ft long. Normal cultural practices were followed using black plastic mulch and overhead irrigation. There were 4 replications per treatment in a randomized complete block design. Treatments were applied weekly from Feb 19 to Apr 23 for a total of 10 applications. Treatments were applied with a tractor mounted sprayer with 5 nozzles per row, 250 psi , and in 100 gal of water per acre. On Mar 16 the number of live vegetable leafminer larvae per leaf (third fully expanded leaf from terminal) were counted on 10 randomly selected plants per plot. Mature green to ripe fruit were harvested on Apr 27. The percent fruit damaged by southern green stink bug and southern armyworm/tomato fruitworm was determined by examining 25 randomly selected fruit per plot. The vegetable leafminer and southern armyworm populations were normal whereas the southern green stink bug and tomato fruitworm populations were higher than usual. Approximately 95% of the caterpillars were southern armyworms.