EPA has cleared Assail 70 WP for use in tobacco and potatoes in 2006. The Cerexagri insecticide will provide tobacco growers with control of aphids and leafhoppers, and the manufacturer says it offers both good residual effects and good rainfastness. North Carolina State University entomologist Sterling Southern says that when the product is applied while the pest is still in egg stages, Assail should help control budworms, too.
The active ingredient in Assail is acetamiprid. Since this neonicotinoid has been labeled for some crops since 2002, it is already in the supply chain and should be immediately available for tobacco and potato producers this year.
"For now Assail is labeled as a foliar spray, primarily for aphids, but I think they are also looking to get it labeled as a systemic application," says Southern. "…It also is a relatively low toxicity material and the caution label has a 12-hour reentry period and a seven-day preharvest interval," he adds.
NCSU researchers looked at Assail on tobacco test plots in multiple locations in 2005 and scored it, along with Orthene, Provado and Actara, in the top range of effectiveness against aphids. Fulfill and Thiodan did not perform quite as well against aphids in these trials. Lannate brought up the rear.
In Southern's research this year, Assail 70 WP did not score very well against budworm. In these particular tests, however, Southern points out that by the time the product was applied on the budworms, few of the pests were still developing in the egg stages. More research with the product applied at earlier stages of development will be needed before Southern and his fellow researchers can fully assess the product's effectiveness against budworm.
For more information on Assail visit www.cerexagri.com/presscenter/pressDetail.asp?NewsID=30 on the Internet.