Australia: Fruiting vegetable and cucurbit growers benefit from Syngenta’s new MINECTO FORTE insecticide

The release of a new insecticide from Syngenta will help control more of those chewing and sucking pests that attack fruiting vegetables and cucurbits, while it sets a new course for resistance management.

Newly registered, MINECTO^® FORTE contains diafenthiuron (Group 12A) and cyantraniliprole (Group 28) - a combination that quickly brings on insect pest paralysis whether they are feeding or vectoring, preventing any further crop damage. The inclusion of diafenthiuron is especially good news for those growers with resistant whitefly and aphid populations.

“These two complementary modes of action were carefully selected to provide control of pest species that overlap. The end result is a formulation with precisely the right amount of each active ingredient to deliver both robust control in field crops and a novel solution to resistant populations,” Syngenta Technical Services Lead Shaun Hood said.

Diafenthiuron is a new mode of action for the control of silverleaf whitefly and aphids in both fruiting vegetables and cucurbits. It works through inhibition of mitochondrial ATP synthesis, resulting in paralysis, primarily through direct contact following application. Meanwhile, the cyantraniliprole component works via ingestion; The active ingredient binds to the pest’s ryanodine receptor, causing the onset of paralysis and cessation of feeding.

“MINECTO FORTE has performed as we expected throughout trials but it’s something you have to see for yourself to fully appreciate,” Dr Hood said.

“It’s a product that advisors and their clients can readily use to address a particular pest, as soon as the threshold is triggered. That application will also go to work on overlapping insect pest species, while they are ticking along in the background.”

In both cucurbits and fruiting vegetables, MINECTO FORTE includes control claims for melon aphid, green peach aphid, two-spotted mite, silverleaf whitefly, Helicoverpa armigera and Helicoverpa punctigera, potato moth, cluster caterpillar and cucumber moth. It also delivers suppression of western flower thrips, tomato thrips and plague thrips.

MINECTO FORTE should be applied early in the crop once pest action thresholds exceed what can effectively be controlled by natural predators. A maximum of two applications are permitted per crop, at least 28 days apart, observing a one-day withholding period at harvest for cucurbits and six days for fruiting vegetables.

“MINECTO FORTE will be a feature of our Bowen GrowMore site in May, so make sure you follow the results through the Syngenta website,” Dr Hood said.