Acelepryn longevity study

The emergency authorisation for 2021 for the use of Acelepryn on Leather Jackets has been granted (link to some news on that here.......).

The approval has been granted until the end of November this year, which is great news as the PestTracker data (find it here) is showing later hatch periods than we ever expected.

In this blog we'll have a quick overview of the Soil dissipation study we did last winter to help you understand how Acelepryn works, how long it lasts and where it stays which will help you to get the best out of it.

Quick Note: You can listen this to this article as a Podcast - just the play button below.

https://open.spotify.com/show/4nTc6ExohXDFONjzBg5EoM

What did we do?

We visited two golf clubs (one links and one 20 year old sand construction) and applied Acelepryn to the surface as per recommendations. find them here.....

We then took soil samples from the green the day after treatment and then on a monthly basis for the four months giving us 5 reference points over the 4 months after application.

The soil samples were then broken down into four depths

  • Top - 1cm
  • 1cm - 4 cm
  • 4cm - 8cm
  • 8cm - 12cm

This gave again us a great insight into how deep the product moves and how long it lasts.

This is critical information as matching the maximum concentration of the product to the area the LeatherJackets feed at the time when they are feeding most is the key to success.

The day after treatment we found that very little movement had taken place. Even though the product had been thoroughly watered in Acelepryn was found predominantly in the top 1cm.

This information gives us confidence to fully water the product in. At the time of application we will have Leatherjackets throughout the soil profile (the UK hatch pattern just isn't condensed enough to guarantee they'll all be in the same place at the same time).

I think a lot of course managers shy away from watering the product in but the more we can distribute it throughout the profile at this stage the better.

The other thing to note is that it didn't reach its full concentration until one month after application in this trial. This was expected as its the same pattern we've seen in other trials - but to be completely honest with you - I don't understand why yet!

One month after treatment the product is still heavily concentrated in the surface, it's likely that this is the period when most of the impact on the species is taking place and looking at this data we are relying on the LeatherJacket to come to the product rather than the product going to the target insect.

At two months after treatment we begin to see some movement and the top 0-1cm begins to deplete but there is stil around 60% of the original amount in the soil profile and its still mainly in the top 4cm's.

So we are still in a situation where we are waiting for the LeatherJacket to feed in the right area in order to get control.

The same pattern continues until the end of the trial where we still had around 60% of the original concentration in the upper parts of the soil profile.

Acelepryn has a long lasting residual effect, which needs to be matched to the pest feeding in the the right area.

We also need to be very aware of the way Acelepryn sits in the surface when we are aerating. Because of the lack of movement of the product down through the soil profile we need to recognise there is a chance that when we puncture that layer we reduce the impact of the product.

We will be undertaking trial work this winter to understand how big this impact is.

Some more of my latest articles below - worth a read.

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