Tests for Boll Weevil Control with a Systemic Insecticide and a Boll Weevil Feeding Stimulant1

Abstract

The use of a systemic insecticide, American Cyanamid CL-47031 (cyclic ethylene (diethoxyphosphinyl) dithioimidocarbonate), with a feeding stimulant to control the boll weevil, Anthonomus grandis Bo-heman, was explored. Laboratory tests indicated that the treatment of leaves with a feeding stimulant formulated with sucrose and agar altered both the feeding behavior and movement of boll weevils. CL-47031 applied in a granular formulation as a soil treatment and in a lanolin paste as a stem treatment to cotton just beginning to fruit gave substantial mortalities of adult boll weevils. When CL-47031 was applied as a stem treatment to fruiting cotton and a boll weevil feeding stimulant, a water extract of squares (3g/10 ml water), formulated with sucrose and agar was applied as a foliar spray, weevil mortality was more than twice that obtained when the same insecticide was alone.