MATTERS OF GENERAL IMPORTANCE IN BOG MANAGEMENT 



A plentiful water sup})ly for flooding vvlienever necessary is tlie best and 

 cheapest insurance against insect injury on cranberry bogs, and it should be 

 provided if the cost is not prohibitive. Where a water supply is lacking or 

 inadequate, spraying, sanding or other measures nnist be adopted. 



Special attention should be given tiie \arious pests in those years when tiie 

 crop prospect is poor. If they are properly reduced then, they often may be 

 neglected safely when the crop j)romises to be hea\\. Any known treatment, 

 be it flooding, sanding, or sj)raying, is likely to injure the vines more or less 

 and so reduce the croj). Tiie amount of this reduction usually is directly 

 proportional to the crop promise. Unfortunately, mo.'-t growers fit their bog 

 management to the condition of their finances, present or prospective, rather 

 than to that of their bogs. Limited water sujij)lies for reflooding should be 

 used mainly to control pest.s, and long chances may be taken with frosts in 

 the j'ears in which the bogs concerned promise a short croj) so that when the 

 crop promise is good, chances may be taken with the insects and the water 

 may be used for frost protection. 



Bog managers shoidd learn to gauge insect infestations in their early stages 

 so as to know when attacks may be neglected. The insect net is as important 

 as any other bog equipment. The bogs should be examined with it every four 

 days from May 10 till mid-July. For practical purposes the sweeping with 

 the net may be done at any time of day, though it usually collects rather more 

 cutworms and gypsy moth larvae as soon as the dew is off in the morning and 

 just as it begins to form in the evening. If -50 sweeps of a net 11 inches in 

 diameter gather from the vines over 12 gypsy moth caterpillars or cutwoniis 

 of any kind, or more than 48 spanworms, the infestation should be treated 

 anyhow. Six cutworms or gypsy moth caterpillars and 24 spanworms are 

 equivalent to 12 cutworms or 48 spanworms, four spanworms equalling one 

 cutworm in their caj>acity to do harm. As the worms of most of the species 

 grow larger they cling more and more to the vines or hide under them and so 

 are gathered by the net in smaller and smaller numbers. 



The worms that float ashore during flooding treatments seldom give any 

 trouble. Usually most of them thrash themselves to death in the water and 

 few have life enough left to eat afterward. 



Bogs never should be burned off to control insects unless the vines are so 

 deep and snarled that their renewal is desired. Even then it is often better 

 to mow them. 



It is necessary to siicceKS in cranberry culture to control all the pests recog- 

 nized generally by the growers as harmful, but it is essential to real efficiencti 

 to check also the horde of minor forms that usually escape notice, such as 

 leafhoppers, black bugs, springtails, spittle insects, mites, aphids, etc., which 

 in the aggregate greatly drain the vitality of the vines on many bogs and so 

 reduce the quantity and quality of the fruit produced. 



Cranberry insect problems present so many conditions that it is hard to 

 cover them all fully in bulletins. Chances to check two or more pests with 

 one treatment always should be looked for. Those that occur commonly are 

 indicated in the discussion of tlie various insects. 



