14 Growing Sea Island Cotton Under Florida Conditions 



Hibernation 



In the fall, after the cotton is killed by frost, the adults 

 seek shelter in nearby trash, fence rows, woods, etc., to spend 

 the winter. Ordinarily only a small percentage of these suc- 

 ceed in surviving until the following spring, but the percentage 

 varies greatly according to conditions. If the cotton field 

 from which they migrated continued to square and blossom 

 until frost, most of the weevils will be strong and healthy, and 

 will have a good store of fat to draw upon for their long 

 fast, enhancing their chance of surviving the winter. If, how- 

 ever, the weevils migrated from a field which ceased to square 

 and bloom long before the beginning of cool weather, they will 

 have a scant store of reserve energy, and their chance of sur- 

 viving the winter will be small. The boll weevil, like all in- 

 sects, is cold-blooded, and therefore consumes energy slowly 

 or rapidly, more or less according to whether the weather is 

 ^varm or cold. If they are forced to go a month, or even two 

 weeks, without food in the fall while the weather is yet warm, 

 a large part of their reserve energy is used up, and their 

 chance of surviving the winter will be small. In the fall of 

 1937 most of the cotton in northern Florida was completely 

 defoliated by the cotton leaf worm during the last week of 

 September. The weevil infestation was considerably lighter 

 than usual the following spring. 



The type of shelter the weevil finds will greatly influence 

 its chance of surviving the winter. Dry grass, which affords 

 but little protection from changes in temperature, carries but 

 few weevils through the winter. Spanish moss, on the other 

 hand, is excellent protection against violent temperature 

 changes, and carries large numbers of weevils through the 

 winter. Most cotton planters know only too well that cotton 

 planted near damp, mossy woods is usually heavily infested 

 by over-wintered weevils. 



In the spring, as soon as the average mean temperature 

 reaches 56° F, the adult weevils gradually leave their hibernat- 

 ing quarters and seek cotton fields. In heavily infested lo- 

 calities weevils will be in the earliest cotton before squares 

 form. The emergence period usually lasts until well into June 

 in Florida. Around very thin open woods, emergence is com- 

 pleted by June 5-10, but around mossy swamps it is not com- 

 plete until around June 20. 



The ]-ate of emergence from hibernation is slower during 

 dry than dui'ing damp weather. The optimum conditions for 



