Enhanced Plant-Growth with Two Systemic Insecticides

Abstract

IN the search for better methods of control of the red-legged earth-mite, Halotydeus destructor (Tuck.) (Acarina : Eupodidae), and the lucerne flea, Sminthurus viridis (L.) (Collembola : Sminthuridae), seeds of Dwalganup subterranean clover, Trifolium subterraneum L., were treated with the systemic insecticides demeton and methyl demeton before sowing. The seed, dampened with milk, was tumbled in a container with 8 per cent of its weight of a charcoal-based dust containing 50 per cent of the insecticide. Seeds were sown, at the rate of 50 per 8-in. earthenware pot, in sand fertilized with potato ‘E’ manure at the rate of 1 cwt./acre. (Potato ‘E’ manure contains 3.5 per cent N, 15.5 per cent P₂O₅ and 8 per cent K₂O.) The pots, of which there were three for each treatment, were kept in a glasshouse and watered at least every second day.