F90

The objective of this experiment was to evaluate the efficacy of experimental materials for insect control and disease suppression in flue cured tobacco. The experiment was conducted at the Cunningham Research Station in Kinston, NC and consisted of 3 treatments and a check replicated 4 times in a RCB design. Admire Pro was applied to tobacco plants in greenhouse float beds as an overhead spray using a CO2 propelled backpack sprayer fitted with a single nozzle boom and flat fan nozzle and washed into the root zone with water on 15 Apr. Plants were then held until transplant on 27 Apr. Plants were transplanted 27 Apr in to 4 row plots each 50 feet long and 0.018 acres in area. All foliar treatments were applied with a CO2 propelled backpack sprayer fitted with a single nozzle boom and TG3 nozzle. Treatments were applied at 25gpa and 30 psi. Field foliar treatments were applied twice, on 16 May and 25 May. These treatments were timed to coincide with tobacco thrips flights predicted for 25 May. Thrips populations were evaluated by counting the total number of adult thrips on 5 plants each in the middle two rows of each plot. Counts were made before treatment and 3 days after treatment 1 (DAT1) and again 6 days DAT2. Incidence of systemic tomato spotted wilt virus (TSWV) infection was assessed weekly in all 4 rows, and the final count on 22 Jun was used for analysis. Because plants infected with TSWV early in the growing season can quickly die, the proportion of plants surviving on 22 Jun was compared to the number present post transplant on 12 May. All analyses were conducted using Proc MIXED (SAS v. 9.1.3) with replicate as a random variable and treatment as a fixed variable. Adjusted means were separated via LSD (α = 0.05).