SPINOSAD: CONTROL OF LEPIDOPTEROUS PESTS IN VEGETABLE BRASSICAS

Four field trials were conducted in commercial cabbage and cauliflower crops in the Manawatu and Pukekohe, New Zealand. Four to six consecutive broadcast applications of the naturally occurring metabolite spinosad were made at 6-10 day intervals from 3-7 weeks post-transplanting to harvest. Spinosad gave a high level of control of diamondback moth (Plutella xylostella), white butterfly (Pieris rapae) and leaf miner (Scaptomyza sp.) larvae. Pest control and commercially acceptable brassica yield from spinosad was equivalent or superior to deltamethrin. Spinosad produced no visual signs of phytotoxicity.