Page 11 - AWA Vol.41-No.4

CroP ProtECtIoN

Entrapment® insecticide outperforms chemical and

organic standards for strawberry yield

ttune Agriculture, the leader in We evaluated Entrapment® insecti- with 234 pounds less than the Entrap-
Ahydrocolloid based agricultural cide against a standard organic rota- ment rotation.
products, offers results from a new tion and a standard chemical rotation: In addition, the Entrapment rotation
study conducted on strawberries, Entrapment and the organic rotation is 16% more economical in cost than
showing that only focusing on dead were comparable in most evaluated the organic rotation, bringing the total
bugs does not always equate to what categories. The conventional rotation economic impact to an extra $969 per
ultimately matters most for growers: produced the most dead bugs. How- acre for the grower. Compared to the
more yield. ever, there was a difference in total conventional rotation, the economic
The comprehensive trial was per- marketable yield. impact is an extra $1,072 per acre.
formed at the Florida Ag Research fa- The Entrapment rotation produced “This study confirms what we have
cility in Thonotosassa, FL. In Florida, 195 more pounds of marketable straw- heard anecdotally from our growers,
chili thrips have become one of the berries per acre than the organic ro- that yield is often increased with the
more difficult pests to control. Many tation. That calculates to about $912 addition of Attune products, even in
growers are trying chemical or organ- more per acre*. The rotation that per- cases where traditional factors used to
ic rotations as no single chemistry is formed the worst in terms of market- measure control, such as insect counts,
providing sufficient control. able yield was the chemical rotation, do not seem dramatically different,”
says Dr. Ed Quattlebaum, Director of
Product Development at Attune Agri-
culture. “Plant health is multi-dimen-
sional and complex. This study shows
that Entrapment not only provided
comparable insect control, it also im-
pacted the overall health of the plant,
resulting in a higher yield than either
the chemical or organic rotations.”
EPA registered Entrapment is a new
class of insecticide that uses a physical
mode of action to control insect and
mite pests on a wide range of crops
without causing phytotoxicity. En-
trapment’s active ingredient, Rhexal-
loid®, transforms every tank mix spray
droplet into potential traps on the leaf
surface. The tightly anchored “traps”
capture or immobilize small insects
and mites that come into direct contact
with the droplet while not trapping
larger beneficials.
Circle 10 on enquiry card
Vol. 41 No. 4 9