Evaluation of Insecticides for Curative Control of Black Cutworms

March 16, 2005

Summary: In a replicated field trial on a bentgrass nursery at La Jolla Country Club, La Jolla, CA, a single curative treatment of various insecticides was evaluated for control of black cutworm larvae. Key results include:

• The best performing treatments included pyrethroid insecticides (Tempo, Scimitar, Talstar) and diazinon.  A combination of Proclaim (emamectin benzoate) plus Avid (avermectin) also provided very good control.
• The experimental compound thiamethoxam (25 WG formulation) performed better than the non-treated check at the highest rate tested (0.3 oz/1000 sq ft), but not as well as the top performing products described above. At the two lower rates (0.15 oz and 0.20 oz/1000 sq ft), thiamethoxam did not perform as well as at the high rate.
• The addition of Proclaim to thiamethoxam somewhat improved the performance of thiamethoxam. In contrast, addition of Avid to thiamethoxam did not significantly improve the performance of thiamethoxam.
• The granular formulation of thiamethoxam performed significantly worse than a comparable rate of the WG formulation (0.0725 oz ai/1000 square feet), and was statistically indistinguishable from the check. This difference in performance between sprayable and granular formulations is typical for many insecticides, especially when foliar feeding insects such as black cutworms are involved.

Printable version of full report

Principal Investigators: Wendy Gelernter, Ph.D. and Larry J. Stowell, Ph.D.

Cooperator: Bruce Duenow, La Jolla Country Club

Sponsors: Bayer, Zeneca, Novartis