DuPont Canada has rolled out a longer list of blueberry pests now covered for control by its insecticide Assail.
The company on Monday added blueberry flea beetle, blueberry thrips, cherry fruitworm, cranberry fruitworm, strawberry rootworm and blueberry spanworm to the Assail label as it applies to the product’s use in lowbush and highbush blueberry crops across Canada.
Blueberry growers in Atlantic Canada have previously been able to use the Group 4 acetamiprid product on aphids and blueberry maggot. Assail is already used as an aphid control in a number of vegetable and fruit crops.
In highbush and lowbush blueberries, Assail 70 WP can be applied up to four times a year, the company said. Assail is registered for use in blueberries at a rate of 160 g/ha, using a minimum finished spray volume of 187 litres per hectare.
Jim Irish, the company’s product manager for specialty crops, described Assail in a release Monday as “new chemistry that can help preserve quality and improve yields for blueberry growers.”
The product is also “easy on beneficials,” he said, referring to beneficial insects.
