Valent’s Zeal Miticide Registered for Use in Corn

As temperatures rise and pest pressure looms, Valent U.S.A. Corporation announced field corn, popcorn and seed corn growers have a powerful new tool to fight a variety of summertime mites: Zeal® Miticide (active ingredient: etoxazole).

Zeal offers long-lasting residual control of corn growers’ toughest mite foes, including two-spotted spider mite, Banks grass mite, carmine spider mite, Pacific spider mite and strawberry mite. Research has shown the novel mode of action in Zeal controls all these mites with just a single application.

Carlos Granadino, Valent product development manager, said Zeal brings corn growers proven protection against harmful mites and also plays an important role in integrated pest management (IPM) programs.

"Zeal is the only miticide in a unique chemical class—IRAC group 10B. This class of chemistry acts as a very specific growth regulator that is extremely selective to mites, making it an ideal fit for IPM,” Granadino said. “Zeal not only controls the harmful mite species, it is also soft on many insects that are beneficial in corn production and provide naturally occurring bioregulation of primary and secondary pests. This brings corn growers confidence their crop will be protected, but with fewer worries about cross-resistance and other pest outbreaks during the season.”

Granadino said Zeal provides translaminar movement, allowing the product to move through the leaf to control mites where they feed. It also affects all life stages of mites—eggs, larvae and nymphs—on contact, and eggs laid by treated adults will not hatch.

Zeal can be applied by ground or air, providing growers with valuable flexibility.

The single application of Zeal should be applied in corn at or before mite threshold, ideally before tasseling to allow for thorough coverage of the foliage.