This invention pertains to insecticides and, more particularly, to an insecticide for controlling whiteflies.
Whiteflies have caused extensive damage to food and fiber crops in Texas, Florida, California and Arizona. They attack some 500 crop and other plant species as well as poinsettias and other ornamentals. The sweet potato whitefly has been a major pest to many agronomic crops such as cotton, watermelon and cantaloupe. The whitefly also attacks area landscape by overwhelming plantings of lantana and passion vine. Arizona's long growing season along with a extensive list of suitable hoists for sweet potato whitefly make this pest extremely dangerous to agronomic and horticultural plantings. Crops attacked by whiteflies in the USA include: cotton, alfalfa, carrots, peanuts, cantaloupe, citrus, eggplant, honeydew melon, broccoli, cabbage, lettuce, celery, peppers, and vegetables.
As if California growers, who are periodically attacked by the Mediterranean fruit fly, didn't have enough to fret about, in the past two years along came another winged peril. A new type of whitefly, Bemisia tabaci, swirled like massive clouds of dandruff across fields of melons, lettuce, broccoli, and other vegetables. The pest was dubbed the poinsettia strain of the sweet potato whitefly in Florida, when it was sighted on ornamental plants. In California, the numbers went from troublesome to devastating in recent growing seasons. Pesticides and other remedies failed. People were even trying to vacuum the insects off their plants. Crop damage totaled 118 million dollars, 2,200 jobs were lost, and a state of emergency was declared in Imperial and Riverside Counties, because of whiteflies.
Populations of Bemesia tabaci whiteflies remain relatively light throughout the winter months due to their low fecundity during cooler months of the year but as the temperature rises crops like cantaloupe are planted in the spring and populations of Bemesia whiteflies begin to rise. As the spring melons are harvested the adult whitefly populations begin their migration to cotton where whiteflies mate. Females whiteflies lay their eggs on the underside of cotton leaves. Without grower intervention 6 to 12 generations of whitefly can be produced in a single growing season.
Successful control of sweet potato whitefly depends on destruction of the whitefly hosts. Whitefly control depends on the assistance of farmers and growers in an agronomic environment and the assistance of gardeners and homeowners in towns, cities and suburbs. Since cotton and vegetables are important crops to the agricultural economy, it is unlikely that either crop will be abandoned in an attempt to reduce the host range of the whitefly.
Many types of insecticides have been used to kill whiteflies and other insect pests with varying degrees of success. Unfortunately, conventional insecticides often pollute the atmosphere, create toxic waste, are not biodegradable, and contaminate rivers, streams, ponds, lakes, the ground, soil, and underground aquifers. Conventional insecticides can also damage crops, gardens, lawns, trees and shrubs. Furthermore, conventional insecticides can be hazardous to food supplies and can be harmful and even toxic to humans, animals, birds and fish.
It is, therefore, desirable to develop an improved insecticide which overcomes most, if not all, of the preceding problems.