Boll weevils don't recognize county lines they simply spread wherever Mother Nature allows. Several mild winters in a row, an abundance of overwintering habitat and the weevils' quick adaptation to the Plains climate helped push weevil numbers across the region to unprecedented levels during the past eight years. Drought in 1996 and 1998 didn't slow the weevil's progress. Recent weevil overwintering studies conducted by these scientists indicate as much as 65 percent of overwintering weevils successfully survived recent winters on the Plains. Once these weevils emerge from overwintering sites, they seek nearby cotton fields.
Eradication is a good, long-term investment for the entire region.
The effort pays off. We see that when we look at the dramatic decline in weevil numbers in zones where eradication has been under way for one or two years. The first year of diapause eradication spraying cuts weevil numbers dramatically. Subsequent spraying in following years then pushes weevil populations down to near zero. That helps put more lint and more dollars back into producers' pockets.