Spraying to control the weevil becomes too expensive for some producers, she said. To monitor the weevil, Pierce set up more than 600 traps in the Pecos Valley in April. So far, she's only seen 15 boll weevils captured from weekly trap checks. I don't want farmers to be overly encouraged, but it's not as bad as we thought it might be. She said while it is uncertain why the weevil numbers are low, the early spring drought may have helped.
Pierce does, however, expect numbers to rise again in the fall.
The monitoring project is funded by NMSU, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, New Mexico Department of Agriculture, the New Mexico Pecos Valley Farmers' Organization and the Mesilla Valley Farmers' Organization. Pierce also studies whether traps, baited with pheromones or chemicals that attract the pest, stop the boll weevils that survived the winter from entering cotton fields. Besides the weevil, Pierce has research projects involving the pink bollworm and the beet armyworm. Last month, local producers got a chance to see all of the center's changes and new research during a field day complete with a tour and a keynote address by NMSU President J. Michael Orenduff. It's crucial that local producers get the opportunity to see the work we're doing.