Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1926-06-05
Alfalfa Weevil


major importance in the Far West,
but it has been slow getting estab-
lished in the eastern states, due to
unfavorable soil and harvesting con-
ditions. Unfavorab1e soil conditions
can be overcome economically, Of
course, and the new method of har-
vesting alfalfa practised by Arthur
J. Mason on his Illinois farm shows
that the problem of making alfalfa
hay in regions with high rainfall has
been solved.
But there is one serious thing, aside
from soil and weather conditions,
which alfalfa growers in the Far
West have had to contend with. 1t Is
the inroad made by the alfalfa-weevil.
This pest has, in some places. been
known to destroy half of the crop. At
times the entire first crop has been
destroyed. y
The alfalfa-weevil belongs to
group of beetles which attack alfalfa,
clover and plants closely allied. The
adult weevils are brown-snout beetles
about three-sixteenths of an inch
long. These live over winter in the
crowns of alfalfa plants and are pro-
tected places in the field. In spring
IiSy AlOI Oli1y lCCu NpOh lLlO new dl-
falfa, but puncture the stems of the
alfalfa plant with their shouts and
lay small yellow eggs inside the stem.
The eggs hatch into small, yellowish
worms that feed upon the opening
buds and young leaves at the tips of
the alfalfa plant. The principal in
jury to the alfalfa plant is caused by
these worms.
When fully grown, the worm goes
to the crown of the alfalfa plant and
spins a silken cocoon around it's body.
In about two weeks 1t energies from
the cocoon as a fully developed beetle
the adult alfalfa-weevil. There is
but one brood each year.
The alfalfa-weevil is found In Eu-
rope, Western Asia and Northern
Africa. but is never destructive
there, probably being held in check by
its natural enemies. The pest was first
reported in this country in 1904 near
Salt Lake City. Utah. Nobody knows
how it was introduced Neither is it
known how long It had been in Utah
before it's discovery in 1904 by ento-
mologists. 1t may have been there
for good many years before 1t be-
came so destructive as to cause alarm.
Since 1904 it has spread over practi-
S@iAy Gil VI y ldH, pdIIS OI NSSteII
Colorado, Southwestern Wyoming.
Southern Idaho, Eastern Oregon, parts
of Nevada and Eastern California
The adult alfalfa-weevil makes two
flights year. The spring flight &C.
ours soon after the weevil comes from
its winter quarters and seeks a place
to feed and to lay its eggs.
The summer migration takes place
soon after the adult weevil energies
from Its pupal stage, usually in late
July or August. During this flight the
weevil is simply seeking a good place
in which to spend the winter.
1t is doubtful If the weevil is dis
tributed very widely by these flights,
and yet the pest has become widely
scattered over several of the western
states as indicated, since its first dis
ccvery in Utah in 1904. Some me-
chanical agency must have helped in
this distribution. In 1920 the weevil
was found in the Truckee meadows
near Reno, New, and up to that time
the nearest point of infestation was
the Salt Lake Valley, Utah. a dis
lance of $50 miles away. The pest
may have been carried In alfalfa hay
used to feed race-horses brought into
Nevada from the Salt Lake City races.
ia iV4%t "CCNIS "CIc lOuHQ III a car.
load Of potatoes received at Battle
Mountain from a point in Utah. The
potatoes were shipped in a car which
had previously been used for ship
ping baled alfalfa hay from a weevil-
infested district.
When the yellow worms hatch out
In spring. they begin at once to eat
the leaves of the alfalfa plant. The
plants outgrow the injury until short
ly before cutting time, when the
young larvae become so numerous
that they completely destroy the
growing tips and thus stop the growth
Of the plant. The first crop of alfalfa
is seriously injured and frequently
destroyed. The worms also attack
the young shoots of the second crop
and frequently delay It several weeks;
field of alfalfa attacked by the