Tobacco budworm (TBW), Heliothis virescens F. (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae), and tobacco hornworm (THW), Manduca sexta L. (Lepidoptera: Sphingidae), are consistent pests of tobacco in South Carolina. Trials were conducted at the Pee Dee Research and Education Center in Florence, SC, to evaluate transplant water and foliar applications of insecticide for TBW and THW control. Tests included untreated and treated tobacco with transplant water applications of chlorantraniliprole and cyantraniliprole, and foliar applications of chlorantraniliprole, flubendiamide, spinosad, cyantraniliprole, chlorantraniliprole + lambdacyhalothrin, emamectin benzoate, and a Bt insecticide. After transplant, 10 plants per plot were randomly selected and examined on every leaf weekly for live TBW or THW larvae; insecticides were applied at the 10% live larvae threshold. In 2010, transplant water applications of chlorantraniliprole kept infestations below the threshold for 7 weeks after transplant, whereas infestations in untreated tobacco reached threshold by 5 weeks after transplant. Similar results were found with transplant water applications of cyantraniliprole. In 2011, TBW and THW infestations appeared in tobacco several weeks later, and a clear advantage of using transplant water applications of chlorantraniliprole was not apparent. This is in contrast to 2010 and also 2009 where such applications showed a clear advantage. Foliar applications of chlorantraniliprole, cyantraniliprole, and flubendiamide showed longer residual activity than spinosad, emamectin benzoate and a Bt insecticide. (Reprinted with permission)