How Effective Are Insecticides for Whitefly Vector Management in Tomato?

Several types of field experiments were conducted from 2013-2015 to quantify the overall effectiveness of attempting to reduce whitefly transmission of Begomoviruses with insecticides. Field efficacy trials did show a reduction of virus symptoms and increase in yield with insecticides, but not enough to serve as an economical, stand-alone treatment. A field crop tunnel experiment was conducted to study viruliferous whitefly, Bemisia tabaci and Tomato yellow leaf curl virus (TYLCV) spread across virus-susceptible tomatoes as mitigated by insecticide.  Both whitefly presence and viral presence were distributed in close proximity to the source plant with minor impact of insecticide treatments. A large tomato demonstration trial with a controlled source of whitefly vectors provided evidence that the positive effects of insecticides on virus spread are dependent on spatial scale and timing.