Steward Insecticide Registered in Tobacco

Feb 26, 2021

By Hannah Burrack

A new insecticide, Steward, has recently been registered in tobacco. Steward, with the active ingredient indoxacarb, is labeled for tobacco budworm, hornworms, and tobacco splitworm and has a unique mode of action in tobacco. In addition to these labeled pests, we have also seen efficacy against tobacco flea beetle from early season foliar treatments. We haven’t been able to generate late season efficacy for tobacco flea beetle in our research station plots, so it is important to note if growers are hoping to achieve late season flea beetle control, they need to use application methods that ensure excellent coverage. In other words, late season applications require high volume (50 gpa or more) with drop nozzles. We have worked with Steward for several years in our efficacy trials, and you can review the results of this work via Arthropod Management Tests:

Efficacy Foliar Applied Insecticides on Tobacco Budworm in Flue-Cured Tobacco, 2020

Efficacy of Soil and Foliar Applied Registered and Experimental Materials on Green Peach Aphid and Tobacco Flea Beetle, 2019

Efficacy of Foliar and Soil-Applied Materials for Lepidoptera Control in Tobacco, 2017

Efficacy of Foliar and Soil-Applied Materials for Lepidopteran Pests on Tobacco, 2016

In short, Steward performs similarly to our standard materials for tobacco budworm and hornworms and similarly to imidacloprid (Admire Pro and others) and Assail when applied as foliar treatments for tobacco flea beetle. It is encouraging to have additional active ingredients and modes of action for these target pests in tobacco.

Source : ncsu.edu

Video: Spring 2026 weather outlook for Wisconsin; What an early-arriving El Niño could mean

Northeast Wisconsin is a small corner of the world, but our weather is still affected by what happens across the globe.

That includes in the equatorial Pacific, where changes between El Niño and La Niña play a role in the weather here -- and boy, have there been some abrupt changes as of late.

El Niño and La Niña are the two phases of what is collectively known as the El Niño Southern Oscillation, or ENSO for short. These are the swings back and forth from unusually warm to unusually cold sea surface temperatures in the Pacific Ocean along the equator.

Since this past September, we have been in a weak La Niña, which means water temperatures near the Eastern Pacific equator have been cooler than usual. That's where we're at right now.

Even last fall, the long-term outlook suggested a return to neutral conditions by spring and potentially El Niño conditions by summer.

But there are some signs this may be happening faster than usual, which could accelerate the onset of El Niño.

Over the last few weeks, unusually strong bursts of westerly winds farther west in the Pacific -- where sea surface temperatures are warmer than average -- have been observed. There is a chance that this could accelerate the warming of those eastern Pacific waters and potentially push us into El Niño sooner than usual.

If we do enter El Nino by spring -- which we'll define as the period of March, April and May -- there are some long-term correlations with our weather here in Northeast Wisconsin.

Looking at a map of anomalously warm weather, most of the upper Great Lakes doesn't show a strong correlation, but in general, the northern tiers of the United States do tend to lean to that direction.

The stronger correlation is with precipitation. El Niño conditions in spring have historically come with a higher risk of very dry weather over that time frame, so this will definitely be a transition we'll have to watch closely as we move out of winter.