Effectiveness of tomato-spotted wilt virus management tactics

Tomato-spotted wilt (TSW) is caused by the tomato-spotted wilt virus (TSWV) and is a major disease affecting the production of tomato and pepper in the Southeastern United States. Before initiating a multistate, regional project addressing this issue, a survey was conducted in North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida to assess the need for improved management of TSWV in these crops. We investigated farmer's stated effectiveness of four common TSWV management tactics (reflective mulch, resistant cultivar, imidacloprid, and Actiguard) in pepper and tomato production using logistic regression. We found that the odds that farmers were satisfied with the use of reflective mulch alone in controlling TSWV is 9-1, about one and a half times the amount obtained from using Actiguard alone. Moreover, the odds that farmers were satisfied with a practice that combines reflective mulch and Actiguard was far greater than that obtained from using each of the technique separately. We found some similarities between farmer's stated effectiveness and revealed effectiveness from experiments.