Bayer’s Belt insecticide registered in Texas for sorghum

Webworms, earworms, headworms, armyworms and other hungry Lepidoptera species feed hungrily on sorghum leaves, leaf whorls and panicles. Collectively they can cost sorghum growers thousands upon thousands of bushels of lost yields.

Fortunately, Texas sorghum growers will have an additional control option this season with the introduction of Belt™ (active ingredient: flubendiamide) insecticide from Bayer CropScience.

"Belt is a highly selective insecticide that targets many economically significant worm species,” said product manager Lee Hall.
"It features fast action and extended residual control to help preserve yield potential. Because many growers already have experience with Belt in cotton, they can expect the same reliable performance in sorghum.”

Belt is active on most worm pests, including resistant populations and late-stage larvae. Worms stop feeding just minutes after application, he said, and the ensuing residual control can last two weeks or more with minimal risk to beneficial insects and without flaring mites. This makes it an excellent addition to Integrated Pest Management (IPM) programs, Hall said.

"In this crop, Belt features a mode of action with no known cross-resistance to insecticides from other chemical classes,” Hall said.

Belt causes worms to stop feeding immediately. Because it is highly selective to worm pests, Belt is not harmful to parasitoids, syrphid flies, lacewings, predatory bugs, predatory mites, or adult and larval ladybird beetles.