“WHAT’S HAPPENING?”

The University of Tennessee/Agricultural Extension Service

Entomology & Plant Pathology - EPP #60

Volume No. 14 - October 9, 2004

EPA REMINDS PESTICIDE RETAILERS DIAZINON 'STOP-SALE' DATE APPROACHING

by Darrell Hensley

EPA has issued a notice to remind retailers of a Dec. 31, 2004, stop-sale date for all outdoor Diazinon home, lawn and garden products. It will be unlawful to sell Diazinon outdoor non-agricultural use products in the United States after the end of this year. This is part of an agreement between EPA and Diazinon registrants to phase out and eliminate all residential uses of the insecticide Diazinon. Discontinuing Diazinon use in home, lawn and garden care is part of EPA's ongoing effort under the 1996 Food Quality Protection Act to reduce the risk of pesticides, especially to children.

Diazinon registrants are offering a "buy back" program to assist with removing these products from the market and preventing further sale. The registrants will repurchase any unopened, unused outdoor residential

products from retailers or formulators. Retailers should make all possible efforts to sell their Diazinon products back to the manufacturers by March 31, 2005.

Consumers may continue to use Diazinon residential products according to label directions and precautions. If consumers choose to discontinue use, they should contact their state or a local hazardous waste disposal program or local solid waste collection service for information on proper disposal. Consumers are advised not to dispose of pesticides in sinks, toilets, storm drains, or any body of water. The local government may recommend that consumers take Diazinon products to a household hazardous waste collection site.

The organophosphate pesticide, Diazinon, has been one of the most widely used insecticides in the United States for household lawn and garden pest control, as well as for indoor residential treatments. All indoor use

product registrations have been cancelled and retail sale ended on Dec. 31, 2002. More information on Diazinon is available at: http://www.epa.gov/pesticides/op/diazinon.htm

LADY BEETLE REMINDER - “THE GAME IS WON OR LOST IN OCTOBER”

by Karen M. Vail

Predicting the Day of the Invasion

According to predictions by Ohio State University IPM Program personnel, Multicolored Asian Lady Beetles (MALB) start searching for overwintering sites, your home, on the second day when temperatures are greater the 65E̊F after a dramatic drop in temperature, usually to near freezing. The invasion started on October 6, 2004 in Minnesota.

Vertical Contrast and Not House Color Influences Attractiveness of Homes to MALB

Research from North Carolina revealed that it is vertical contrast, such as black shutters against light-colored walls, shadows cast by a chimney, white shutters against a dark background, that is attractive to beetles. Color of the house will not matter in attractiveness to the beetle. After all, they are looking for a crack in a white/light-colored cliff or rock outcropping.

Management

Conduct Steps 1 and 2 by late September/early October, before MALB start their invasion.

1. Pest-Proof: seal entry points, keep window screens intact, screen vent openings, etc., before the beetles arrive. (See our UT Extension Service SP 503C Lady Beetles Invading Homes [http://www.utextension.utk.edu/publications/spfiles/sp503c.pdf ] for more specific recommendations on sealing entry points.)

2. Treat roof lines or soffits, vertical contrast areas, and entry points (around the following items: windows, doors, vents, pipe penetrations) with pesticides before the beetles arrive. Professionals' products such as Demand CS (lambda-cyhalothrin), Suspend (deltamethrin) or Talstar (bifenthrin) provided 96, 95, and 84% effectiveness at three weeks post-treatment, respectively, when applied to vinyl siding. Terro Ant Killer (0.2% permethrin w/PBO) and Bayer Advanced Home (0.1% cyfluthrin) provided 96 and 92% effectiveness at three weeks post-treatment. Retreatment in three weeks may be necessary.

3. Remove dead beetles as they pile up because they may cause other MALB to aggregate.

4. If the beetles make their way into the home, try a light trap (see description below or other traps listed at http://ipm.osu.edu/lady/lady.htm) or a vacuum. Use a vacuum with an HEPA filter to prevent allergens from becoming airborne.

Trap Updates form OSU

The Ohio State University IPM Staff developed an inexpensive trapping device for use in homes. Pictures and details of the homemade trap’s construction can be found on the web (http://ipm.osu.edu/lady/blt1.htm). In their tests, the homemade trap caught about 70% of the released beetles in a room. He also mentioned that an incandescent bulb worked as well as a black light tube, but a black light incandescent bulb was not very effective. The homemade trap worked better if the funnel and collecting container (both plastic milk jugs) were painted black and dusted with talc.

HORTICULTURAL OIL USES ON ORNAMENTALS

by Frank A. Hale

Horticultural oils or summer oils are more highly refined than those used entirely for dormant uses. Before using an oil spray during the growing season, first check the label and make sure that the product lists warm season use and is not just for dormant use. Many horticultural oil brands can also be used, usually at a higher rate, during the dormant period. Some examples of horticultural oils (some of these may not be labeled for use in Tennessee) include SunSpray Ultra-Fine Year-Round Pesticidal Oil, Lesco Horticultural Oil Insecticide, JMS Stylet-oil, Damoil Dormant and Summer Spray Oil, Purespray Green, Prescription Treatment Ultra-Fine Oil, Synergy Super Fine Spray Oil Emulsion, Omni Oil 6 E, and Rockland Horticultural Spray Oil.

Fall is an excellent time to use horticultural oil because the humidity tends to be lower and any oil applied tends to kill the pest and then quickly evaporate. There is less chance of phytotoxicity (leaf or twig burn) when the humidity is low and the cooler temperatures also reduce the chance of damage. For most summer pests on woody ornamentals, use a 2% spray solution. If phytotoxicity is a concern, try a lower 1% rate.

Tuliptree scale only has one generation per year. The crawlers emerge in late August and September. A horticultural oil spray can still be used in October to control these crawlers that molt into second instars prior to overwintering. An oil spray when the tree is dormant in February to early March can be made to clean up any scale that were not controlled in the late summer or early fall.

Spruce spider mites are active now and should be controlled before they lay overwintering eggs. A horticultural oil spray will control both the eggs and the motile stages. Oil can also be applied during the dormant period as a clean up spray or as a stand alone spray if the fall treatment is missed.

FLYING APHIDS

by Frank A. Hale

Asian woolly hackberry aphids continue to attract attention as they fly about. These fluffy white aphids are producing copious amounts of honeydew on the foliage of hackberry and sugarberry. There have been reports of cars being parked beneath these trees that are coated with honeydew and sooty mold can become quite noticeable after only a week.

Other aphids swarming now that can be a nuisance, are the woolly apple aphid and the woolly elm aphid. You can find hundreds of these gray aphids stuck in spider webs that are in the vicinity of elm trees. The females migrate at this time of year to elm trees in order to lay a single egg. The egg will hatch in the spring and the aphids will feed on the new spring foliage. After a few generations, winged forms of the woolly apple aphid will migrate to apple, crabapple, pear, mountain ash and hawthorn while those of the woolly elm aphid will fly to serviceberry. While horticultural oil sprays applied to the whole tree will kill thousands of these aphids, it will not do anything for the thousands still flying to the tree. Either a pyrethrin aerosol or fogger or a resmethrin fogger can be used if temporary relief for an outdoor activity is desired.

COTTON PIP PRODUCT

by Darrell Hensley

EPA has conditionally approved a new Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) plant-incorporated protectant in cotton (Wide strike) for use until Sept. 30, 2009. Wide strike cotton is expected to have environmental and public health benefits by reducing the use of conventional chemical insecticides that may be applied to cotton several times per season. Many of these insecticides can pose hazards to workers and wildlife. Wide strike also has the potential to extend the useful life of existing plant-incorporated protectants and provide additional benefits for insect resistance management. EPA granted this conditional registration and approved a tolerance exemption after reviewing the results of experimental trials, analyzing numerous scientific studies looking at both human health and environmental impacts, consulting with the Scientific Advisory Panel and reviewing public comments. Following this thorough registration review process, EPA determined that granting a conditional registration for this use would not pose unreasonable risks to human health, nontarget organisms, or the environment. WideStrike cotton contains a Bacillus thuringiensis Cry1Ac protein and a Cry1F protein, both previously approved by the Agency. These proteins are intended to control tobacco budworm, pink bollworm, cotton bollworm, cabbage looper, saltmarsh caterpillar, cotton leaf perforator, soybean looper, beet armyworm, fall armyworm, yellow striped armyworm and European corn borer. WideStrike cotton is a Dow AgroSciences product.

FIELD CROPS UPDATE

by Russ Patrick

Wheat: If you have any newly emerging wheat it is a good idea to check for fall armyworms. They have been active in turf grass recently and may move to wheat since I think it tastes better. It does not take them long to

wipe out a field of green wheat. There are many insecticides that can be used in wheat. Look at the list and pick one that meets your budget.

Soybeans: Dean Northcutt and I found a lot of soybean aphids in Coffee County in fields that had been treated. In one field, which were late planted beans, there were numerous aphids on the undersides of the leaves.

All of the leaves were not affected, but there were many which had been. We put the growth stage at about R5. This field had been treated with a pyrethroid around the 22nd of September.

Disclaimer Statement

Pesticides recommended in this publication were registered for the prescribed uses when printed. Pesticide regulations are continuously reviewed.

Should registration or a recommended pesticide be canceled, it would no longer be recommended by

The University of Tennessee.

Use of trade or brand names in this publication is for clarity and information; it does not imply approval of the product to the exclusion of others that may be of similar, suitable composition, nor does it guarantee or warrant the standard of the product.

The Agricultural Extension Service offers its programs to all eligible persons regardless of race, color, age, national origin, sex, veteran status, religion or disability and is an Equal Opportunity Employer.

COOPERATIVE EXTENSION WORK IN AGRICULTURE AND HOME ECONOMICS

The University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture, U.S. Department of Agriculture,

and county governments cooperating in furtherance of Acts of May 8 and June 30, 1914.

Agricultural Extension Service Charles L. Norman, Dean