MSU updates common insecticide recommendations

Some ornamental plant producers are venturing into growing vegetables in the greenhouse. Greenhouse vegetable crops are susceptible to similar pests as ornamental plants, such as aphids, fungus gnats, spider mites, whiteflies and thrips. Greenhouse vegetable or vegetable transplant growers should always verify insecticides are labeled for edible crops including fruiting vegetable transplants.

Michigan State University Extension has updated a new factsheet, “Recommended Insecticides for Common Greenhouse Pests on Vegetables, Herbs and Leafy Greens,” to serve as a guide to greenhouse vegetable growers when considering an insecticide application. It provides the names of the products, active ingredients, vegetable crops on the label and recommended pests they control.

The boxes that are highlighted in green indicate the crop is on the label. For example, Acatara (active ingredient thiamethoxam; not labeled for ornamental crops) is labeled for cabbage, cucumber, eggplant, lettuce, mint, pepper, squash and tomato. Please note that two of the products, Safari 20SG (dinotefuran) and Tristar (acetamiprid) are labeled for only transplants of certain vegetable crops.

The boxes highlighted in purple indicate the product has been shown to be effective for the insect pest in MSU and IR4 university trials. For example, Asana XL (active ingredient esfenvalerate) has been proven to be effective against aphids. Also, two products were added to this updated bulletin, DiPel DF and DiPel Pro DF. They are effective on caterpillar pests, which are not among the common greenhouse pests listed in the purple columns.

Growers should always read the label prior to application, as this table may not be all-inclusive or the labels may have changed since this guide’s development in April 2017.

Source: MSU Extension