Insecticide dips of poinsettia cuttings against Bemisia tabaci
Studies have been carried out in United Kingdom on the efficacy of insecticide dips of poinsettia cuttings (Euphorbia pulcherrima) to control Bemisia tabaci (EPPO A2 quarantine pest). The dipping technique consisted of immersing individual cuttings into an insecticide solution for 30 s. Several compounds were tested (spraying petroleum oil, teflubenzuron, buprofezin) and the best results were obtained with petroleum spraying oil (5 and 10 ml l-1 were the tested concentrations), none of the other treatments gave good control of the egg stage. Though no phytotoxicity was observed on the poinsettia cultivar tested, the authors noted that further tests should be done to check the crop safety of petroleum oils on all commercially available poinsettia cultivars.
Sources
Buxton, J.; Clarke, A. (1994) Evaluation of insecticide dips to control Bemisia tabaci on Poinsettia cuttings.
Pesticide Science, 42 (2), 141-142.
Paper presented at the SCI Pesticide Group Symposium 'Management of Bemisia tabaci', in London, on 1994-01-25.