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SAVE THE MUMS 



^ FROM THE MIDGE 



Precautionary measures and constant care will save growers of chrysan- 

 themums from the tremendous losses they have suffered from the midge in 

 the last two seasons. Further suggestions in this article will aid growers 

 in applying the remedy already used hy some of them with marked success. 



INGE the article on the 



S chrysanthemum midge ap- 

 peared in the January 1 

 issue of The Review, 

 many thousands of mums 

 have been freed of the 

 pest in a short time by 

 those who read the article 

 and followed the instruc- 

 tions given in it. Now 

 that growers are preparing to plant 

 their mums, some additional informa- 

 tion will be welcome, especially 



as mums are the next main 



crop to be put on the market. 

 Only a few years ago growers 

 of carnations thought these flow- 

 ers were doomed by the rust, but 

 today wo understand how to 

 fight the rust and we grow bet- 

 ter carnations than ever before. 

 The greatest danger in the mum 

 inidge lies in the fact that it 

 is not understood. But if those 

 who read this article will follow 

 iustructions, they will find that 

 the midge is, by persistent ef- 

 fort, easy to eradicate. 



Origin. 



There are five species of 

 midge prevalent in central Eu- 

 •ope, but so far as can be ascer- 

 tained, there are only three 

 kinds in America; namely, the 

 mum midge, the rose midge and 

 one other, which thrives on 

 weeds in gardens and fields. 



The midge this article is con- 

 cerned with has definitely been 

 identified as Diarthronmya Hy- 

 I^'i^ea (F. Low). It will not 



thri 



ve on any other plants than 



tlioso of the chrysanthemum 

 Jamily. So we will just call it 

 the mum midge (or something 

 \\ur.se if nobody hears you). 



Y nearly as investigation re- 



|;;ils, this midge came into the 



United States on a new variety 



"t chrysanthemum in 1913 or 



Y^l and today is doing a great 



' e;i. of damage because it was 



distributed all over the country 



^^'tiont the shippers of this stock 



e;i izing the great danger of the pest. 



'n the following page is a remarkably 



K".')a illustration of the adult female 



"'"^ge, greatly enlarged. Its natural 



»'^fi 18 less than one-twelfth of an inch 



n length over all. In the earliest stage 



'^ its life the color of the midge is the 



■/^"/e as that of the leaf. In middle age 



or !^. ^^'^ewhat yellow. When at work 



re I'r k * -^^^ *™® ^* leaves its nest it is 



uish in color and has two fleecy 



wings, which apparently are not of suffi- 

 cient strength to be used in flying. It 

 seems that these wings are only useful 

 in helping the insect to keep its bal- 

 ance. The length of its life is from a 

 few hours in the case of the male to 

 two or three days in the case of the 

 female. 



The illustration on this page gives a 

 clear view of the damage the midge 

 does to mums. All of the spots, marks 

 and specks on this mum branch are egg- 



How Marks of Midge Show on Mums. 



harbors and these egg-harbors — not the 

 insect — do the damage to the plant. 



To be sure whether you have the 

 midge, get out a sharp knife and care- 

 fully cut open any warty growth you 

 may find on your mums. If you find 

 an insect, you may feel sure it's the 

 midge. 



One point should be emphasized: Do 

 not expect to find the midge like aphis. 

 It is the egg-harbor that does the dam- 

 age, not the insect. The insect is short- 



lived and is exceedingly hard to see. 

 Some growers imagine they see the 

 midge, when really they see a harmless 

 manure fly that is similar in appearance, 

 but larger. 



This point is of great interest, as 

 many growers are under the impression 

 that the midge will fly from plant to 

 plant. One-half of this point may be 

 conceded, for the male does fly to some 

 extent, but I have seen plants with four 

 generations of insect«--©ti, th"em when 

 there was not one on any pear- 

 by plants. The midge emerges 

 from its harbor and immediately 

 gets busy on that one plant, or 

 any adjoining plant that it can 

 crawl, climb or fall to. Some- 

 times individual plants are af- 

 fected with midge all season 

 and plants a few inches away 

 are absolutely free from them. 

 The real danger of the midge 

 is that it cripples the growth. 

 |.It disfigures and dwarfs the 

 plant, and hinders the buds 

 from opening, or even may de- 

 stroy the bud. 



Losses. ^ 



Growers give figures, such 

 as twenty per cent, fifty per 

 cent and sixty per cent depre- 

 ciation in value of mums be- 

 cause they were so badly dis- 

 figured. One grower estimated 

 his loss at $5,000, as the market 

 value of his mums would have 

 been $8,000 if all the stock had 

 been free of midge, whereas he 

 received only $3,000. 



It has been definitely ascer- 

 tained that the female insect of 

 the midge starts plugging the 

 eggs into the tenderest growth 

 of mums when it is about six 

 hours old and lays from eighty 

 to 150 eggs, dying a natural 

 death before it is forty-eight 

 hours old. ♦: 



Like nearly all other insects, 

 the midges multiply most rap- 

 idly during the hot weather. In 

 the winter I have found that 

 they will stay dormant for a period of 

 from three to five months. This indi- 

 cates that the weather and atmosphere 

 are big factors. One grower who had 

 two lots of muma last winter had midge 

 on both. The midge on the plants in 

 the cooler house did not hatch till the 

 warm days of spring, while those on the 

 plants in his other house, in a warmer 

 temperature, were hatching all winter. 

 I examined five different lots of mum 

 stock plants this spring in widely sepa- 



