Delegate WG Receives Labeling For Citrus Root Weevil

By Growing Produce Staff|February 15, 2012

Already used for control of Asian citrus psyllid, citrus leafminer, and other lepidopteran insects, growers now also can employ Delegate WG insecticide to protect their groves from the citrus root weevil.

EPA recently added suppression of Diaprepes abbreviatus, commonly known as the root weevil, to the approved label for Delegate.

The citrus root weevil causes damage when, as a grub, it eats the roots of orange trees and other types of citrus, killing or weakening them. In addition to direct damage, root weevil larvae provide entry points for soil-borne pathogens, particularly Phytophthora. Rescue of trees may not be possible once infested. Young trees have smaller root systems and cannot tolerate the same level of feeding as those of mature trees.

Delegate is the only Group 5 insecticide available for insect control in citrus.

With a four-hour re-entry interval and a one-day preharvest interval, Delegate, which was reviewed and registered under the EPA’s Reduced Risk Pesticide Initiative, controls insects but does not dictate a schedule for managing the grove.