Which specialty insecticides are effective for controlling aphids?

Aphids are a type of phytophagous insect, and some species are important pests of economic plants such as grain, cotton, oil crops, hemp, tea, sugar crops, vegetables, tobacco, fruit, medicinal plants and trees. So what specialty insecticides are there for treating aphids?

1. Malathion

Malathion is a yellow oily liquid, slightly soluble in water and soluble in various organic solvents. It is a highly effective, low-toxicity, broad-spectrum insecticide and acaricide, with contact, stomach and some fumigant action against pests, no systemic activity, and a short residual period, with general efficacy lasting 7 days. It is effective against pests with piercing-sucking or chewing mouthparts, and is suitable for controlling foliar pests on fruit trees, vegetables and many other crops, as well as public health and storage pests. It has low toxicity to humans and livestock, and is highly toxic to bees and fish.

2. Fenitrothion

Fenitrothion has good control effects on pests of many crops such as rice, soybean, cotton, fruit trees and vegetables, and is especially a specialty insecticide for controlling rice stem borers. For example, against Sesamia inferens, Chilo suppressalis, Scirpophaga incertulas, rice planthoppers, rice leafhoppers, aphids, red spiders, cotton bollworms, soybean pod borers, tea geometrids and others, applying 50-75 grams per mu (active ingredient) gives good control, but its effect on mite eggs is relatively small. It sometimes causes phytotoxicity on cruciferous vegetables.

3. Pirimicarb

Pirimicarb is a highly selective aphicide with contact, fumigant and leaf-penetrating action. It can effectively control all aphids except the cotton aphid, and is also effective against aphids that have developed resistance to organophosphates. It kills insects quickly, but has a short residual period. It is safe for crops and does not harm natural enemies, making it an ideal agent for integrated pest management.

4. Deltamethrin

Deltamethrin is one of the most toxic pyrethroid insecticides, and has a very good killing effect on many pests such as cotton bollworms, pink bollworms, imported cabbageworms, diamondback moths, tobacco cutworms, tobacco budworms, leaf-feeding beetles, aphids, mirids, stink bugs, leafhoppers, fruit borers, leafminer moths, slug moths, caterpillars, geometrids, inchworms, armyworms, stem borers and locusts.

5. Fenpropathrin

Fenpropathrin is a pyrethroid insecticide with contact, stomach and some repellent action, and no systemic activity. Its greatest feature is that it also has excellent control effects on various harmful mites. It can be used on cotton, fruit trees, tea trees, vegetables and other crops to control pests and harmful mites of Lepidoptera, Homoptera, Hemiptera, Diptera, Coleoptera and others, and especially when insects and mites occur at the same time, it can achieve control of both.

6. Imidacloprid

Imidacloprid is a neonicotinoid ultra-high-efficiency insecticide with broad-spectrum, high-efficiency, low-toxicity and low-residue characteristics, and pests are not prone to developing resistance to it. It is safe for humans, livestock, plants and natural enemies, and has multiple actions including contact, stomach and systemic action. It is mainly used to control pests with piercing-sucking mouthparts, such as aphids, planthoppers, whiteflies, leafhoppers and thrips, and is also effective against certain pests of Coleoptera, Diptera and Lepidoptera such as rice weevils, rice leaf beetles and leafminer moths.

Although aphids are harmful to many economic crops, if controlled in time, the damage will be reduced.