E43

Pepper weevil can be a devastating pest of all pepper varieties in the southern parts of the USA. Control is difficult because all but the adult stage are cryptic in the fruit, limiting exposure to insecticide sprays. Greenhouse-grown pepper plants were transplanted at the Southwest Florida Research and Education Center in Immokalee Florida on 15Sep 2010 at 24 inch spacing in 4 single rows 300 ft in length on 6 ft centers and covered with white polyethylene film mulch. Each bed was divided into 9 plots and treatments distributed in an RCB design with 4 replicates. Each plot contained 12 pepper plants with a 12 foot space between plots for a buffer. Approximately 25 % of the N requirement was incorporated into the bed as granular 15-2-15 NPK, with the remainder applied as liquid 7-0-7 injected daily with a Dosetron into the drip irrigation. Foliar insecticide applications were made with a high clearance sprayer operating at 180 psi at 2.3 mph with spray delivered through two vertical booms using yellow Albuz® hollow cone nozzles that applied 10 gpa each. Four nozzles (two on each side) were used for the first two sprays and six nozzles (three on each side) were used for the remaining four.