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Submitted to: American Society of Sugar Cane Technologists
Publication Type: Abstract Only Publication Acceptance Date: 6/1/2003 Publication Date: 7/1/2003 Citation: 2003. Wireworm effects on sugarcane emergence after short-duration flood applied at planting. Journal of Entomological Science 38(3):449-456. Interpretive Summary: Technical Abstract: Sugarcane growers in Florida normally apply a soil insecticide at planting to limit wireworm damage to planted stalk sections. The purpose of this study was to determine if floods of 7, 14, and 21 days applied at planting could result in sugarcane emergence equal to that following a conventional application of an organophosphate insecticide at planting without flooding. In three outdoor experiments, wireworms were applied at the severe rate of 13 larvae per meter in large plastic containers filled with Pahokee muck soil. In the first experiment, emergence under the flood treatments was lower than under the insecticide treatment, possibly due to lower soil temperatures under the flood treatments than the insecticide treatment. Emergence under the 14 and 21-day flood treatments and the insecticide treatment were similar in the final two experiments. However, reductions in plant weight were associated with the floods in spite of successful emergence. The reductions in plant weight may have been due to confining wireworms to containers. The successful emergence results reported here as well as the potentially negative effects on plant weights need to be verified in field studies. |
