Cotton producers in the Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Tennessee are using a new class of chemistry this season for tarnished plant bugs, following a Section 18 emergency exemption for Transform WG earlier this season.
Dow AgroSciences anticipates a full label later in the year.
Offering a new mode of action, sulfoxaflor, the active ingredient, Transform WG is in the sulfoximine class of chemistry, says Brian Timmerman, Dow AgroSciences U.S. insecticide marketing leader.
Transform Now In Cotton
Sulfoxaflor is active on sap-feeding insects like tarnished plant bugs, is fasting-acting and effective at low-use rates against tarnished plant bugs.
Tarnished plant bugs significantly limit cotton yields with sap-feeding. The bugs are a member of the Lygus family of sucking insects.
Tarnished plant bugs are the No. 1 cotton pest in the Mid-South, Timmerman says. Tranform WG also offers action against aphids, but that insect wasn't listed on the Section 18 label.
"Sulfoxaflor is unlike any insecticide now on the market in that it is a unique class of chemistry," Timmerman says. "Besides giving growers a new tool in the fight against tarnished plant bugs, it currently exhibits no cross-resistance with other insecticides."
In its Section 18 label, Transform is recommended for use two times during the season at a rate of 1.5 ounces to 2.75 ounces per acre.
With a new mode of action, Transform isn't a silver bullet, Timmerman points out. "But its fast-acting chemistry will give producers another tool in their arsenal against tarnished plant bugs."
Tarnished plant bugs cost Mississippi cotton growers about $100 per acre of their total $145 insecticide treatment budget, says Angus Catchot, Mississippi State University Extension entomologist.
When Transform WG receives its anticipated full label, it can be used a maximum of four times per season. Dow AgroSciences is recommending no more than two, back-to-back applications, followed by the rotation of a different mode of action."