Banana – Banana Weevil Borer, Rust Thrips

Crop:        Bananas
Insect(s): Banana weevil borer (Cosmopolites sordidus) and Rust Thrips (Chaetanaphothrips signipennis)

Components of the Strategy:

1. Use only clean planting material.
2. If re-planting into an old banana block, allow at least 6 months fallow after old banana material has rotted down.
3. Remove weeds and trash around banana stools to allow maximum effectiveness of insecticides and to reduce sheltering sites for weevils. Application of insecticide to trash may lead to reduced control of banana weevil borer.
4. Cut up fallen and harvested pseudostems to reduce weevil breeding sites.
5. Monitor regularly for banana weevil borer activity by trapping (when adult weevils are active) or conduct corm damage ratings.
6. Only use insecticides when populations reach or exceed accepted threshold levels. Refer to local Department of Agriculture guidelines.
7. Only use insecticides at the registered rate of application and apply at times when the particular product will have the maximum impact, i.e. use contact insecticides only when weevil borer adults are active.
8. Use insecticides only in the years indicated in the following diagrams.
9. Consider the impact of the use of other pesticides for other insects or nematodes on banana weevil borers.
10. For rust thrips control, a combination of control methods such as butt/band sprays, stem injection or spray and bunch sprays may be required.

The following two diagrams are alternative Resistance Management Strategies depending on which product(s) are chosen for banana weevil borer and rust thrips control.

STRATEGY A

Where products other than controlled release formulations of imidacloprid are being used to control insects in bananas.

 

 

*Refer: CropLife Australia Expert Committee on Insecticide Resistance Mode of Action Classification for Insecticides