Alternatives to Pyrethroids for Managing Corn Earworm in Sweet Corn, Seed Corn, Tomatoes and Peppers

Introduction To date, there are no reports of widespread failures of pyrethroid insecticides to control the corn earworm, Helicoverpa zea (Boddie) (Lepidoptera, Noctuidae), in midwestern North America. However, observations of decreased effectiveness of pyrethroids in small-plot insecticide evaluations, lower-thanexpected mortality in adult bioassays using diagnostic doses of pyrethroid insecticides, and scattered control failures in commercial sweet corn fields lead to the inference that H. zea resistance to pyrethroids is a potential problem in the midwestern United States and southeastern Canada. Sweet corn, seed corn, tomatoes, and peppers are among the crops most often protected from H. zea by applications of pyrethroids. If resistance compromises pyrethroid effectiveness, adopting or developing alternative management practices will be essential. This paper summarizes the current status of management alternatives for H. zea, specifically in commercial production of sweet corn, seed corn, tomatoes, and peppers.