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for years and but little injury result from 

 their attack. In certain; localities they 

 have been observed for several years, yet 

 even the older fields show no apparent 

 injury. 



A common practice is to plant in the 

 earlv spring, cultivate well the first season 

 and keep down all the runners. A half- 

 crop is expected the next season and a full 

 crop the second season, or the third spring 

 from planting. Ordinarily the field is 

 kept as long as possible to derive profit 

 from it and often, in the infested districts, 

 it is kept too long. 



In the weevil districts, under normal 

 conditions, an infested patch will show a 

 few sickly hills the first season; small 

 patches here and there dead the next sea- 

 son, and the patch rendered worthless the 

 following spring. A condition that is be- 

 coming quite common, however, is for the 

 patch to be materially weakened the first 

 season, and the second season, when it is 

 expected to yield a full crop, the patch is 

 absolutely worthless. 



Two factors make this condition possible 

 The soil is often infested with grubs even 

 though strawberries have not been grown 

 on the ground previously. Again, the 

 beetles from infested beds all about tend 

 \o concentrate on the new patch. 



Host Plants — While the root weevil 

 is a pest of the strawberry it is by no means 

 confined to this host plant. Both the larvae 

 and the beetles have a wide and varied list 

 of host plants to their credit. The rasp- 

 berry, blackberry and loganberry may be 

 attacked, but it is not believed that the 

 weevil will prove a serious menace to these 

 hosts. There is a list of seventy host plants 

 for adult beetles and thirteen host plants 

 for the larvae. 



There is a statement abroad that the root 

 weevil of the strawberry affects clover and 

 therefore it is dangerous to plant straw- 

 berries on land that h.is grown clover. Ac- 

 cording to Professor Lovett of Oregon, who 

 has made quite a study of the weevil, and 

 also Dr. Melander of Pullman, this is not 

 true. Clover is affected by a root weevil 

 that is very smiliar to the strawberry root 

 weevil, a near relative to it. However, this 

 clover weevil will not feed on the straw- 

 berry. 



TTERE are short descriptions of the 

 -*--*- beetle and the larvae. The adult wee- 

 vil is a snout beetle nearly one-fourth of an 

 inch in length. The color of the insect 

 varies from a dull reddish brown, when 

 freshly emerged, to almost pitch-black. The 

 surface is roughly pitted and slightly shiny. 

 The beak is short, broad and emarginate at 

 the tip. There is a distinct puncture be- 

 tween the eyes, the antennae are elbowed 

 and consist of nine segments. 



The larvae, when seen eating, were of a 

 pinkish tinge, but when compelled to fast, 

 became white. The full grown larva is 

 three-eighths of an inch long by pne-eighth 

 of an inch wide, white in color except the 



BETTER FRUIT 



head, which is light brown. The body is 

 arched. 



The strawberry root weevil is single 

 brooded. The adult beetles remain alive 

 and active for more than a year. There 

 are for a short period of time, two gener- 

 tions of beetles present- These are busily 

 engaged in feeding on the foliage of the 

 strawberry, and other hosts, ragging and 

 stripping it. The insects pass the winter 

 in both adult and grub stage. 



The beetles pass the winter in all con- 

 ceivable sorts of places. Many hibernate 

 in the soil close about the crown of their 

 host or crowded down into the sheaths 

 about the central whorl of the crown, 

 also under heaps of debris about the field 

 and fence corners, or under boards and loose 

 bark. The more mature grubs pass the 

 winter in the soil about the roots of their 

 hosts. The majority pass the winter as 

 nearly mature larvae, feeding to a limited 

 extent on their hosts. 



The beetles feed at night, and during 

 the day crowd down in the dark sheltered 

 places. They, will often be found in 

 numbers under a clod, in a crevice or crack 

 in the soil, or crowded down about the 

 crown of the plant itself. 



Control Measures — In spite of a 

 great amount of careful and conscientious 

 investigation in Canada and in Oregon no 

 really practical and satisfactory measures 

 have been developed. Taking into account 

 the inability of the beetles to fly, the idea 

 of a barrier about the newly set field to 

 keep them out was thought of. The bar- 

 rier used consisted of twelve inch boards, 

 placed on edge about the field, well braced 

 from the inside, all the joints carefully 

 fitted and made insect-proof. A strip of 

 tin was tacked along the top edge of the 

 fence projecting out over the edge about 

 one and one-half inches. 



The barrier proved reasonably effective 

 in excluding the weevil and although the 

 cost of construction is considerable, the idea 

 is not impracticable. This plan has never 

 proved popular with the growers. 



The crop rotation plan, which is recom- 

 mended by the Canadian and Oregon work- 

 ers, seems the only one at present feasible. 

 It is that of growing the plants onlv one 

 full crop year and then destroying the 

 field immediately after the harvesting of 

 the main berry crop. Plant in the spring 

 and cultivate the first season, take one crop 

 the second season and plow up the field 

 just as soon as the berries are off. Plow 

 in mid-summer after the beetles have laid 

 their eggs and also burn the strawberry 

 plants so the larvae will not have anything 

 to feed on. If plowed before this time 

 the beetles will go to another patch in order 

 to lay their eggs. It is also a good idea 

 to have chickens in the patch while plow- 

 ing. 



We have observed that the weevil is 

 more apt to be present on high ground 

 than on low places. Previous to planting, 

 dip plants in a tobacco solution, consisting 



Apnl, 1922 



of four tablespoons full of black-leaf-forty 

 and one-fourth pound of soap dissolved 

 in five gallons of water. 



Dr. Melander of the State College, at 

 Pullman, tried drowning the weevil; burn- 

 ing out the insects; killing by contact with 

 insecticides; soaking the ground with strong 

 soap suds, oil emulsion, and solutions of 

 borax and copperas; by using poisonous 

 fumes and gases as chlorine, sulfur-dioxide, 

 acet\lene, and gasoline, kerosene, turpen- 

 tine, chloroform, etc., but none of these 

 treatments seem effective and, in many 

 cases, the plants were killed. 



OF THE soil fumigants the cyanide gas 

 and the carbon-disulphide killed 

 enough insects to give promise. The cy- 

 anide was discarded because it destroyed 

 the plants and because it is one of the ni;)st 

 dangerous of poisons to man. 



The carbon-disulphide was used by put- 

 ting a couple of tablespoonsful in a saucer 

 every three feet, under a piece of oil cloth 

 or canvas made gas proof by painting with 

 linseed oil or other material, and covering 

 about six feet of the infested row. This 

 liquid evaporates quickly and the fumes, 

 being heavier than air, silik into the 

 soil. As they are poisonous the fumes de- 

 stroy the grubs and the beetles also. Cover 

 the edges of the canvas with dirt and leave 

 covered for six hours. 



In many cases last spring where the 

 weevil was quite serious we advocated the 

 use of nitrate of soda to insure the growers 

 a crop of fruit. Our idea was to prolong 

 the life of the plant. We also used a 

 chemical known as paradiclorobenzol which 

 is used in combating the peach borer. It 

 seemed effective in a small measure and in 

 some cases where it was applied the plant:- 

 seemed healthy and more vigorous and we 

 could find no weevil. In other cases we 

 found the grubs inactive and of a darker 

 iiDpearance. On further study of the chem- 

 ical, we learned that the crystals did not 

 give off their gas under wet conditions and 

 perhaps it would be more effective in sec- 

 tions where the climate is drier. 



Crown Miner — This pest is a small 

 worm that works entirely within the crown 

 of the strawberry plant, constructing its 

 tunnels there, and burrowing about. The 

 worm is slender and pinkish in color with a 

 brown head. The adult is a small moth. 

 For its control plowing up the infested 

 plants is the method recommended. 



Strawberry Root Borer — The root 

 borer is a serious pest to the strawberry. 

 The larvae are white and elongated, with 

 a brown head. They feed on the interior 

 of the crown and the tap root of the plant, 

 eating out the entire heart. The plant, as 

 a result, looks sickly and when pulled up 

 will often break just below the crown, ex- 

 posing the -tunnel and often the larva itself. 



The adult insects are clear-winged 

 moths. Dig up and destroy infested plants, 

 preferably in I'.te fall or early spring. 

 {Continued on page 25) 



