Sugarcane Aphid Management

We are beginning to get a few reports of  sugarcane aphid in the state. Sugarcane aphid have the potential to cause significant yield losses if left untreated or if timely applications aren’t made. Aphids detected at low levels will often linger and slowly increase over a period of time. Once populations have reached about 20-30% infestations, these populations expand exponentially and will infest almost every plant in the field on susceptible varieties. At this point, you need to make an insecticide application or the results could be devastating. Unfortunately with the pest, chances of yield loss can occur at any point during the season. From previous research, the pre-boot stage is the most susceptible followed by boot and panicle emergence. Yields losses have still been seen at soft dough but they are much less.

Treatment is essential when the aphid population has reached 20 to 30% infestation with localized areas of honeydew. Scouting for this pest is relatively simple, take a handle of sweep net and quickly lift bottom leaves of the plant to determine the presence and/or colony size of aphids. Once aphids have been detected, it is critical that you scout these areas biweekly. These populations will expand quickly and it doesn’t take long for them to get out of control.

The two options for sugarcane management are Transform and Sivanto Prime. Typical rates are 1 oz for Transform and 4 oz for Sivanto Prime (see label for full rate structures). Both of these products provide effective control but we have seen longer residual with Sivanto Prime. At times we have seen some inconsistency with both products. When less than desirable control has been reported, most often it has been traced to poor application or below average temperatures. We have clearly shown that cooler temperature impact the level of control we see with these products. This is likely due to the insects themselves and less to do about the insecticide. Target applications around the heat of the day if nighttime temperatures are 60 F or below.