The Hartford republican., 1917-03-02
Potato Tuber Moth.

climates often work very serious in
jury to stored potatoes. IL also is
an annoying and at times a destruc-
tive pest where careless planting and
harvesting, combined with proper
climatic conditions, give IL an oppor-
tunity to damage the growing plant.
The larva of the moth feeds to some
extent on the leaves, but does its
principal damage to the plant by min
ing downward through the stem.
killing that section of the plant and
greatly reducing the leaf area. In
the case of the tuber in the ground
or stored, the larvae channel through
the flesh and either ruin the potato
end cause IL to rot, or render IL so
unsightly as to make IL undesirable
for food.
The Bureau of Entomology, Unit
ed States Department of Agriculture.
recently has published Professional
Paper No. 427, The Potato Tuber
Moth, i'm which il recommends two
methods OF control to the potato
grower and handler. These are, ac-
cording to J. T.. Graf, author of the
bulletin, cultural and harvesting
methods which minimize damage and
the use of disulphide of carbon TO
fumigate stored potatoes. The ser
10. ,F I'm hp
following measures in the field will
do much to minimize the damage
from this moth:
l. Plant as deep as practicable
6 TO G inchcs).
2. Use ridge culture. G., ridge
the rows.
8. Harvest as early as possible.
4. Harvest before the potato tops
become so dry as to drive the partial
ly grown larvae to descend and work
on the tuber.
In harvesting the tubers several
rules must be followed to keep the
turers from infestation:
/. The sacks should never be
covered with potato tops, as the lar
vac leave these when they wilt and
enter the potatoes.
2. The sacks should be sewed as
soon as possible and hauled from the
field.
3. Potatoes should never be left
in the field or exposed to the moth
overnight.
4. All Gull potatoes should be
gathered up within two weeks and
either fed to stock at once or de-
stroyed. If left in the field they
are menace to the neighbors and to
the grower himself for the following
crop.
After the potatoes are harvested
they should be marketed at once, un-
less the grower has storage facilities
and is willing to take the trouble
to treat the potatoes.
The destruction OF potato vines af-
ter harvest, while il kills all stages of
the insect within the vines, will also
kill the parasites which prey on the
moth. Destruction of the vines
would probably kill more of the par
asites than stages of the moth, since
tic tuDer worm is liable TO hide un-
der clods and rubbish, while most OF
,hose parasitized remain in or on the
plants.
Experiments indicate that carbon
disUlphid used at the rate of 2 pounds
10 1000 cubic feet of storage space
will kill the larvae and adults and
practically all the pupae and eggs
within As hours. The potatoes are
placed in gas-tight bins, which cas-
ly may be made nearly air-tight by
lining temporary structures with
tcrred paper and painting the seams
The carbon disulphid should be plac-
cd on the top OF the sacks in shall
low tin pans. The gas that IL gener-
0tes r. heavier than air and sinks
through the mass of potatoes. AS
carbon disulphid vapor is explosive
when mixed with air and brought in
contact with fire or sparks, or when
heated to a sufficiently high temper
ature, great care should be exercis-
ed to keep any sparks or fire such
as is lighted cigar away from its
neiphborhood. III tubers are notice
ably infested, the fumigation should
be repeated in a week In summer or
two weeks in winter.
Potatoes should be marketed as
rapidly as possible, and infested tu-
bers should never be stored unless
they can be fumigated.