STRAWBERRY PESTS 



1945 



B. Remedial Measures 

 Summary of Treatment 



As a conclusion from the above, the fol- 

 lowing procedure seems to be the best 

 method of controlling the strawberry root 

 louse. Plant only absolutely clean plants, 

 requiring a certificate of freedom from in- 

 sect pests, if purchased; plant only on 

 ground which has not recently been in 

 strawberries; plow under all old infested 

 beds before May 1st, or locate new beds 

 as far from them as possible; if the use 

 of infested plants is unavoidable, disinfect 

 them carefully by dipping or fumigation, 

 and do not plant them on land previously 

 in strawberries, corn, or melons. These 

 measures are all preventive; no successful 

 remedial measures are known. 



Literature 



Delaware Experiment Station Bulletin 

 49. 



New Jersey Experiment Station Bulle- 

 tin 225. 



South Carolina Experiment Station Bul- 

 letin 141. 



Ohio Experiment Station Bulletin 233. 



Ohio Experiment Station Bulletin 198. 



Strawberry Root Weevil 



OtiorJiynchus ovatus Linn. 



A. L. LOVETT 



The strawberry root weevil is pre-emin- 

 ently the most serious of the insect pests 

 of the strawberry in the Pacific North- 

 west. Fortunately, it appears as yet 

 rather restricted in its range, occurring 

 in abundance only through Northern and 

 Eastern Oregon and Washington and in 

 British Columbia, Canada. At present it 

 bids fair to render the berry business un- 

 profitable in some sections unless the 

 growers, through a common interest, 

 adopt more stringent methods of hand- 

 ling the industry. 



The strawberry root weevil was un- 

 doubtedly introduced from Europe. The 

 first report we have of it in this country 

 is in Massachusetts in 1852. Since that 

 time it has spread steadily westward and 

 also northward, being reported successive- 

 ly from Michigan, Canada, Wyoming, New 

 Mexico, Minnesota, Montana and Oregon 

 and finally Washington. 



When we consider the fact that this in- 

 sect cannot fiy, but must depend almost 

 entirely on outside agencies for trans- 

 portation, its spread seems fairly rapid. 



Common Name 



There are a variety of common names in 

 current use for this pest. In the earlier 

 literature of this country it received the 

 name of graveyard hug, in some of the 

 later literature it is referred to as the 

 pitchy legged Otiorhynchus. Canadian en- 

 tomologists refer to it as the sleepy wee- 



Fig. 1. strawberry Leaves Showing Effect of 

 Feeding^ of the Adult Strawberry Root Weevil. 

 (Original.) 



vil. The name commonly adopted has 

 been the strawberry crown girdler, and in 

 Oregon it is termed the strawberry grub. 

 If a common name is to be descriptive 

 and individual, the author would suggest 

 the name strawberry root weevil. In my 

 observations, the habit of girdling the 

 crown is rather exceptional, the major- 

 ity of the grubs feeding on the small, 

 fibrous, lateral rootlets. When they do 

 attack the crown the habit of burrow- 

 ing straight through it is just as common 

 as that of feeding around it. So, while 

 realizing that a mass of common names 

 tends but to confuse, the author feels jus- 

 tified in adopting the name strawberry 

 root weevil. 



Destructiveness 



The strawberry root weevil is a pest 

 both as a beetle and as a grub. The 

 beetles feed on the foliage, stripping and 



