The Leon reporter. (Leon, Iowa) 1887-1930, 1914-06-11
Hessian Fly in Wheat.

ACCOIutu W 1CpOitS CuC A1SSoiAh
fly, wheat pest, has been found in
various fields throughout the south
ern part of Iowa and northern Mis-
souri,, and where the fields are badly
affected the only way to get rid OF
the pest is to pillow the wheat and
plant to corn. Experts from the Iowa
Agricultural College at Ames, have
examined fields in Fremont, Page
and Taylor counties, and the wheat
fields in those counties arc so badly
affected that a large number have
been ploWed.
You have noticed your wheat turn
ing yellow, and. thought it was the
dry weather. Perhaps it is, but bet
ter look and be sure. The following
article on how to tell whether the
Hessian fly is in your wheat and the
remedy, is from the Agricultural de-
partment at Ames:
To apply remedial measures, some
knowledge of the habits of the insect
is necessary Each brood of the in
sect has four distinct stages: the egg,
the larva or maggOt, the paparium or
"faxseed,' and the image or adult
winged insect The minute white eggs
are deposited three to five in an ir-
regular row on the upper surface Of
the leaf, or between the sheath and
the STEM The whitish larvea or mag
COTS on Matching, crawl down be-
tween the sheath and stem and feed
ing upon the latter, cause bulbuous
engagements and a general weaken
ing of the plant which, even if it does
not kill it outright, will cause it to
fall
The larvae of the spring brood are
at present almost or quite full
grown, and may be readily found by
careful examination between the
stem and the base of the leaf sheath.
In some cases they have already
changed to brown paprium, usually
called a f1aXseed because of it's re-
semblance to the seed of that name.
Commonly there are two broods dur
ing the year. The flaxseed of the
spring brood remains in that state
during the summer, the perfect insect
issuing from them in the early au-
tumn, usually in September. Those
of the fall brood remain in the flax
seed state until early spring when !
the image issues. The adult insect
lays its eggs in both broods almost
Immediately after issuing from the
paparium.
In most cases there is a partial
third brood, the adults issuing in
June or early July from the puparia
of the spring brood which are now
forming.
When careful examination shows
as many at rs per cent of the stalks
infested with either larvae or pupria,
Nj r1t - %~x, - 4,
wheat. In such cases the fields should
be plowed deeply Immediately and
planted to corn. Where there is any
doubt as to the advisabilty of this
it should be remembered that saving
the wheat will inevitably save also
large number of the insects to endan-
ger next years crop
In infested localities fields that are
not plowed under because they show
little sign of injury, will nevertheless
have some of the insects present. At
harvest the stubble should be left
very long and the field burned over
promptly afterwards. This will de-
stroy the major part of the puparia
then present, but it must be remem-
bered that good many of the flies
of the partial third brood mentioned
above may already have issued. To
prevent these laying eggs and their
larvae developing the latter part of
the summer, all volunteer wheat must
be destroyed.
If winter wheat is to be grown at
all next year, it should be planted as
late as possible This will be of most
assistance in seasons where there
have been cold nights early SO that
the flies have been killed.
Where the insect is very abundant
it will pay to plant strips of wheat
early on which the flies will lay their
eggs on issuing from the pupria.
These should then be plowed under
deeply late in the fall. The careful
carrying out of these measures will
keep the insect so in check that SER
ious damage is not likely to occur.
The female lays her eggs near the
point where she issues so that the
careful application of these measures
above suggested will enable the farm
er to protect himself to a consider
able extent even though his neigh
bors do not carry out the same mea-
sures.
The Hessian fly never becomes
Sucn serious pest III regions where
winter wheat is grown.
Certainly it could soon be almost
exterminated if winter wheat is not
grown. OF course at first in this
case particular attention would have
to be paid to the destruction of the
volunteer wheat so that this would
not carry over some of the insects
until the next spring.
Inquiries concerning this or other
insect facts will be answered
promptly if directed to Prof H. E.
Summers, State Entomologist, Ames,
Iowa.