What does it mean to have Q biotype whitefly?
Having Q biotype does not mean your whiteflies will be highly resistant to imidacloprid and the other nicotinoid insecticides. It is more likely that they will have a low level of resistance resulting in a moderate level of control instead of high level of control after applying Marathon or other nicotinoid insecticides. In Europe there have been documented cases of a very high level of resistance to imidacloprid. Having the Q biotype means that this is possible. Cross-resistance to other nicotinoid insecticides is expected, but the level of cross-resistance is not known. I have a graduate student, Mamy Rakotondravelo, working on this right now. If I have Q biotype whitefly which insecticides will work the best? If you look at the following list of products recommended for whitefly control, you will see that six of them are either nicotinoid insecticides or Q biotype has already been reported to be resistant to them. This leaves us with the eight products in bold print as the most prom
