The Kennewick courier-reporter. [volume] (Kennewick, Wash.) 1914-1938, 1928-05-31
STRAWBERRY WEEvIL

-+e have come to the office
sreral field of strawberries that
o. ;nfected with strawberry root
aav;l. We believe every grower
,So,,ld carefully check his field foI
s ,ansee done by this pest and II
JILL insects are found treat the
~ injected with the weevil bait,
A. about this time or possibly a
,..tis later the adult weevil will
NV ls.'i IN it's appearance. This insect
p small very dark brown insect
;th a distinct projection in the
s r which looks like a long snout
nd hence they are called snout
sast,es From what we have seen
pers we believe that the weevil
hsre IS from about n to ss OF an
;nch in length. When these emerge
..om the ground they may be
toa,nd If they are abundant at all,
~ looking carefully into the
s :, of the plants. Only occas-
;onallv do they feed upon berries
and do any damage in this way
and once in a great while feed up
~ the leaf surface. Probably as
sasv way of determining whether
tbe weevil is present is to examine
the patch for plants which have
had = good crop and then without
any apparent cause the entire
nlant has dried up with the berries
4 ! ripened condition. Digging up
these plants will show that the
nlant is unable to function because
Email rootlets have been fed upon
If the loss of roots. Digging into
The soil one finds either a small
white grub-like worm with pink
head These will be about the size
- . kernel of rice or a little lang
or One may find instead of the
rrub-like worm the young beetle
which is still white but which upon
careful examination one can easily
tell is the period in the life history
when the insect is changing from
the grub or worm stage to the
beetle.
This insect has been one of the
main factors we understand in the
loss of large strawberry acreagees
here in years past, and now that
we have a good remedy for the
control of the insect it certainly
would seem wise for every grower
to make careful examination Of
his field and if the weevil in any
stage are found to be present make
preparations for treating the field
or the orea infected.
The treatment for the weevil is
the use of Go West" weevil bait
which has been perfected by Mr.
Forsell who is now manufacturing
this bait in Seattle. Mr.. Desgrang.
Is of the Big Y land Mr.. Lamp
SON Of the 8 Rivers Association in.
formed us that he has "a supply Of
this bait on hand for those who are
needing it. The bait is used as fol.
lows: At the time the adult weevil
energies, the weevil moves around
over the patch for few days be.
fore the female begins the egg
laying, and it is during this perio6
that poison should be followed sc
1t is important that poisoning be
done as soon as adult weevil car
be found in the patch. The poison
should be worked down into the
crowns of the plants where it viii
come close to the soil and be most
readily found by the weevil. There
is no danger of poisoning berries
by using this bait as we have eat.
en- berries from patches where il
has been thoroughly poisoned with
no trouble at all.
Owing DO the fact that the adult
OF this pest cannot fly but must
get around only by crawling it car
readily be seen that a thorough
poisoning of those areas or fields
where it may be found it is pres.
ent may completely eradicate the
pest this year. Experiments con.
Quoted with this bait have found
that the kill runs from 95 to 10t
per cent where patches have beer
well poisoned.