New Ideas for Screening Insecticides on Squaring Cotton in the Greenhouse and in Field Trials

J.N. All and L.P. Guillebeau


 
ABSTRACT

Improvements for greenhouse and field testing of insecticides enhance development of new materials for cotton. Greenhouse procedures were developed for year-round evaluation of insecticides on squaring cotton for control of square-damaging pests, such as bollworms, Helicoverpa zea (Boddie) and Heliothis virescens (Fabricius), and for defoliators, such as he beet armyworm, Spodoptera exigua (Huebner). Potted plants are sprayed using a rotating boom sprayer built at The University of Georgia Instrument Shop to simulate field application of insecticides in the greenhouse. The treated plants are placed in stainless steel pans which are flooded with one inch of water. The plants are infested with neonate larvae twice per week and the insecticides are evaluated after four weeks. Results from the greenhouse tests have correlated with insecticide efficacy in full season field tests with cotton. A self-propelled sprayer was built for conducting small plot field experiments. The machine is similar in appearance to a three wheeled all-terrain vehicle (ATV), except the frame is arched in the middle to clear row crops as tall as six feet. The combination of portability, high clearance, and maneuverability give this new research sprayer advantages over conventional high cycle sprayers and low clearance ATV-type vehicles modified to spray small lot experiments.



Reprinted from 1991 Proceedings Beltwide Cotton Conferences pg. 756
©National Cotton Council, Memphis TN

[Main TOC] | [TOC] | [TOC by Section] | [Search] | [Help]
Previous Page [Previous] [Next] Next Page
 
Document last modified Sunday, Dec 6 1998