Novel principle of action protects beneficial organisms in fruit orchards and market gardens
Drama in the orchard: the white secretions of the woolly aphids primarily cover the young shoots of the fruit trees and cause them to wither, for example in apple plantations.
The fruit-grower's enemy is a purplish-black creature: the woolly aphid. These insects ravage crops of Cox's Orange, Goldparmane, James Grieve and Jonathon apples. They leave tracks in the form of a thick, fluffy layer of white wax that spreads over the bark and young shoots. This causes shoots and fruits to wither. Growths appear where the bark has been damaged. This is called woolly aphid canker. Attempts to control these pests using conventional methods are largely unsuccessful.
Protected from leaf to root
Researchers working for Bayer CropScience now have an insecticide with an entirely new mechanism of action: Movento®. It protects plants from within: the active substance, spirotetramat, is absorbed through the leaves into two transport systems that extend from the roots to the tips of the leaves. This helps farmers all over the world grow crops from apples through to zucchini. To find out more about this, and why the novel principle of action is completely harmless to beneficial organisms like ladybirds and ichneumon wasps, click below.