Whitefly is a major economic pest of greenhouse tomato production in New Zealand.

To assist growers to access and use new insecticides, Tomatoes NZ carried out greenhouse trials through the A Lighter Touch programme to establish residue profiles of insecticides for early season whitefly control in greenhouse tomatoes.

The residue trials were carried out in one greenhouse on a single cherry tomato variety. Four insecticides were trialled to establish appropriate pre harvest intervals (PHIs) for four insecticides in greenhouse tomatoes.

These four insecticides are each in a different mode of action group, providing additional options for insecticide resistance management.

Tomatoes NZ has produced a technical note for growers from this work. It provides guidance to growers about the pattern of products, rates and timings so that the resulting residues in tomatoes do not exceed the New Zealand maximum residue levels (MRLs). The technical note is available here on the Tomatoes NZ website.