Non-Chemical Pesticide Alternative to Colorado Potato Beetle control

To learn more, visit our product page or read our press release on the EPA registration of Calantha. Calantha is the first GreenLight Bio product to complete U.S. regulatory review and be available for commercial sale.  It is also under review by regulators in other key markets around the world.

The Colorado potato beetle (Leptinotarsa decemlineata) accounts for more than $500 million in crop loss worldwide annually. The beetle, which decimates plants in the nightshade family, easily develops resistance to pesticides. Multiple modes of action are needed to successfully control CPB infestations, especially in areas with multiple generations.

GreenLight Bio’s technology is easy to use, and it can help. Our application is mixed with water and sprayed using standard agricultural practice over crops, at less than one-tenth the rate at which many conventional industrial chemicals are normally used on fields.

We have conducted more than 100 field trials over four years to develop a solution that is effective at just 9.9 g/hectare, equivalent to a spoonful of sugar spread on a football field. Consumption of the dsRNA causes the Colorado potato beetle to stop eating and expire from its own toxins.

The application has been designed to be highly specific to affect the target pest. Our testing has shown that our Colorado potato beetle product does not harm honeybees, butterflies, and several other nontarget insects and mammals at use rates 100 times higher than our recommended rate. It degrades in water and soil within three days to benign, natural nucleotides.

The product is designed to work well with standard growers’ programs to control first- or second-generation Colorado potato beetles. It controls all stages of the life of this beetle but is most effective on young larvae up to one-quarter inch in length.