Aerial application of a nuclear polyhedrosis virus in water-to wild geranium, Geranium spp., at rates of 3 X 10(11) and 6 X 10(11), polyhedral inclusion bodies in 19 1 water/ha resulted in reductions in adult Heliothis emergence of 90% and 64%, respectively, compared to the untreated control. The greater rate of virus resulted in a 88% reduction in tobacco budworm, H. virescens (F.) emergence and a 100% reduction in bollworm, H. zea Boddie, emergence. When the natural population was augmented by releasing laboratory reared larvae, both rates of virus application produced a 93% reduction in budworm emergence and a 99% reduction in bollworm emergence.