Hemp Growers Gain Access to New Pest Management Tools

Posted by Brian Sparks|April 30, 2020

With few pest management tools approved for use in hemp, growers are likely looking for any options . Fortunately, Vestaron Corp. and BioSafe Systems are each offering new crop protection tools for greenhouse hemp growers.

Vestaron’s Spear-Lep bioinsecticide has received EPA approval for adding hemp to the label. Spear-Lep controls caterpillars, loopers, worms, and other lepidopteran larvae with the safety and sustainability of biologicals along with the performance and versatility of traditional synthetics. These pests are difficult to control for all growers, and the expanding hemp industry is addressing this issue as armyworms, corn earworms, and others increase in status.

Spear-Lep has a short four-hour restricted-entry interval, a 0-day pre-harvest interval, and is maximum residue level exempt. Growers also benefit from Spear-Lep’s novel mode of action, recently categorized as the first and only chemistry in the newest IRAC Group 32. When Spear is ingested along with a low-label rate of a lepidopteran active Bt product, which disrupts the gut wall, the Spear peptide crosses into the body cavity to reach target sites in the nervous system. The combination of these characteristics makes Spear-Lep a valuable new tool for the protection of high-value field crops, including hemp, and a safe and versatile rotation partner for IPM and insecticide resistance management programs.

BioSafe Systems also has announced a slate of tools have been reviewed by the Alabama Department of Agriculture and Industries (ADAI) as well as Alabama Extension and meet all the criteria for legal use in the state.

AXXE Broad Spectrum Herbicide, a broad-spectrum, non-selective/non-residual herbicide
AzaGuard azadirachtin insecticide/nematicide
BT Now, a new water-based Btk bioinsecticide
OxiDate 2.0, a broad-spectrum foliar bactericide/fungicide
OxiDate 5.0, a new 5% broad-spectrum foliar bactericide/fungicide
TerraClean 5.0, a broad-spectrum soil bactericide/fungicide
ZeroTol 2.0, a broad-spectrum algaecide/bactericide/fungicide