Pest Control by Vacuum Removal Pest Control by Vacuum Removal by Phyllis Weintraub hat the state of agriculture today is highly dependent on chemicals to control pest species, and that many of these species exhibit resistance to pesticides, is axiomatic. New and innovative means of controlling pest populations are being explored, albeit slowly. We have designed and tested a new field-scale vacuum machine.
Arrows indicate direction of air flow.
The vacuum unit can be raised or lowered to accommodate plant height. Furthermore, the unit can be completely raised above the plants by hydraulics at the end of a row for turning. Insects are exhausted through the impeller blades and thus even the smallest are completely destroyed Since 1991, trials have been run on celery, tomato, potato and melon crops to evaluate the efficacy of the vacuum unit for use in insect pest management. Efficacy was evaluated by field observations, yellow sticky traps, hand vacuum sampling before and after treatment, and by taking leaf samples. Visual observations and comparison of yield results have shown that the plants are not significantly damaged.