Control of Colorado Potato Beetle with Electrostatic and Conventional Sprayer, 1983

‘UC-134-1-2’ tomato seeds were planted in 45-foot rows on 27 May. Plots consisted of a treatment row buffered on one side by an untreated guard row. The distance between rows was 72 inches. When the plants were in the two to three true leaf stage they were thinned so as to provide a spacing of 12 inches between plants within the row. The plots were arranged in a randomized complete block design with four replications. The soil was a Norfolk “A” loamy sand. Conventional spray treatments were applied at a rate of 50 gal/acre at 90 lb/in2 . Treatments were applied with a custom built row crop sprayer equipped with six drop nozzles per row. Electrostatic sprays were applied with a hand-held Electrodyn sprayer made by ICI. All the bozzles (nozzles plus bottle) were calibrated to deliver 0.10 ml/sec. of formulation which, when traveling at a speed of 2 mph delivers 0.8 pt/acre of formulation. The flow rate cannot be altered, so rate changes were accomplished by altering the speed of travel. Treatments were applied on 30 Jun., 3 and 29 Jul. In evaluating the treatments, direct counts of the number of Colorado potato beetle larvae per 10 ft of row and the percentage of defoliation were recorded. Yields were taken on 12 Sep.