By Clint Thompson
A newer pesticide called Nurizma could be a potential replacement for chlorpyrifos. But vegetable producers should be wary that it is labeled only for an in-furrow application, says Stormy Sparks, University of Georgia (UGA) Cooperative Extension vegetable entomologist.
“We did a lot of work with it foliarly, and it’s a really good product as a foliar. But the companies are saying it’ll never be labeled foliar,” Sparks said. “It has to do, probably with honeybees, possibly with environmental effects. They originally went to EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) with foliar applications as well, but they’ve been saying for a couple of years now, you’ll never see it as a foliar application.”
Sparks said it is labeled for corn, potatoes and sweet potatoes. It treats for wireworms, the same reason growers used chlorpyrifos before the EPA revoked its tolerances on food crops.
“That’s the data I’ve seen where you get good efficacy is usually in wireworms where they’re showing. It’s probably got efficacy on a variety of soil insects, because as a foliar application, it was good on a lot of different stuff,” Sparks said. “If we’ve got to replace chlorpyrifos, that’s a potential replacement for it.”
The Eighth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned the EPA’s decision to revoke tolerances of chlorpyrifos (lorsban) on food crops. However, many of the main manufacturers stopped making chlorpyrifos. Its availability remains uncertain.
The EPA revoked all tolerances for chlorpyrifos back in 2021. Its ban applied to all vegetable crops, though chlorpyrifos was used extensively in vegetable production for soil insects in onion and sweet potato acreage.