Efficacy of Insecticides to Citrus Thrips on Lemons in Yuma Arizona 1998

Abstract

Two small plot efficacy trials were conducted evaluating different insecticide rotation regimes using commercially available insecticides and the effectiveness of new insecticide chemistries to control citrus thrips. Under the consistently cool conditions experienced during the first four weeks of the trial, Dimethoate, Success, Baythroid, Agri-Mek, Vydate and Carzol all of the offered adequate control and would fit well in the petal fall window. This is in contrast with previous years experiences when high temperatures within a week of petal fall would result in all treatments except Carzol requiring a re-treatment within ten days. All of the rotation schemes evaluated required three insecticide applications to get through the season, and did not appear to be greatly different in controlling thrips and producing high quality fruit under the environmental conditions experienced. However, the Dimethoate - Success - Baythroid rotation scheme was most cost effective. When temperatures were in the 70's to low 80's, Dimethoate and Vydate offered about three weeks control, Success, Carzol, Baythroid and Agri-Mek all offered about four weeks control. When temperatures were in the mid to upper 80's and low to mid 90's, Success provided about three weeks control while Carzol didn t require re-treatment for 4 weeks. Under these same temperature conditions, Dimethoate and Vydate gave about 7 to 12 days control, and Agri-Mek provided 12 to 14 days of control. Other than the one control failure with Baythroid, under warmer conditions, it provided about seven days control. In the experimentals test, AZEXP1 appeared to offer knockdown activity at temperatures less than 90 F, and only suppression at higher temperatures. AZEXP2, appeared to be a viable citrus thrips material, with activity similar to Success and Carzol. The knockdown activity of M96 appeared to be enhanced by including Dimethoate or Carzol, but will require multiple applications to achieve the level of repellency experienced in 1997.