1948 



ENCYCLOPEDIA OP PRACTICAL HORTICULTURE 



Control Measures 

 One Crop Eotation 



Prof. James Fletcher, late Entomologist 

 of Canada, recommends what lie terms the 

 one-crop plan. 



"This consists of setting out new beds 

 of strawberries in the spring, cultivating 

 these for the first summer, taking one 

 large crop of berries the next spring, and 

 then ploughing the plants up as soon as 

 the crop is off. In the meantime a new 

 bed will have been set out from the run- 

 ners of the bearing bed early in the 

 spring before the fruit ripened. This plan 

 of strawberry culture not only prevents 

 loss from the attacks of such enemies as 

 the white grubs and the above mentioned 

 weevils [0. ovatus, 0. sulcatus], but is 

 also a paying operation, giving better re- 

 turns from the higher price secured with 

 the large fruit thus grown than from a 

 large crop of small berries." 



Trapping 



The insects feed at night and tend to 

 seek shelter in darkened, cool places 

 through the day. Various traps may be 

 used to attract them. Professor Fletcher* 

 recommends common flower pots filled 

 with hay, inverted and raised slightly 

 from the ground. If these are placed 

 about the field the beetles will crawl in- 

 side for protection and may be shaken 

 out into a bucket of water having a thin 

 surface-coating of oil, 



DistribntioM 



Irrigation ditches are a ready means of 

 distribution. "Where a company ditch is 

 used by a community, beetles from an in- 

 fested patch up stream will crawl into 

 the ditch and be washed down and into 

 new fields below. To avoid this means of 

 infestation the use of private wells and 

 a pumping station seems the only solu- 

 tion, and this is not always possible or 

 practical. 



New plants should be obtained, so far 

 as possible, from uninfested districts. 

 When obtained from a suspicious neigh- 

 borhood the plants and containers should 

 be examined carefully for adult beetles. 



Pnt.Sf*?JfA« James, Canada Experiment Farms 

 Report, 1905, p. 186. 



Natural Enemies 



The natural enemies have not been 

 given the study they should An imma- 

 ture Gamasid mite was discovered feed- 

 ing on the eggs at Gresham, Oregon. 



Domestic fowls feed on the larvae and 

 pupae when allowed to follow the plow. 



Carabid beetles and their larvae are of- 

 ten found about the hills. 



At least two species of spiders attack 

 the adult beetles. These spiders con- 

 struct their webs in the foliage of the 

 strawberry plant. The remains of as high 

 as 18 adult weevils were found in a 

 single web. 



More Recent Literature 



1884 Weed, C. M. Report Michigan 

 Station Horticultural Society, p. 84. De- 

 scribed as 0. Ungeus, life history notes, 

 etc. 



1895. Lintner, J. A. Forty-eighth Re- 

 port New York Station Mus , p. 416. Short 

 report. Bibliography and short refer- 

 ences to previous articles. 



1899. Lugger, Otto. Fifth Annual Re- 

 port Michigan Experiment Station, p. 184. 



1904. Cooley, R. A. Montana Agricul- 

 tural Experiment Station Bulletin 55, p. 

 130. Life history, habits, hosts and rem- 

 edies. 



1904 Fletcher, James. Canada Experi- 

 ment Farms Report, p. 242. Short treat- 

 ise on habits and control. 



1905. Fletcher, James. Canada Experi- 

 ment Farms Report, p. 186. Short treat- 

 ise, control. 



1905. Patch, Edith M. Maine Agricul- 

 tural Experiment Station Bulletin 123. 

 Host plants; as a pest in the house. 



1905. Forbes, S, A. Twenty-third Re- 

 port Illinois Station Entomology, p. 192. 

 Short bibliography. 



1906 Pettit, R. H. Michigan Agricul- 

 tural Experiment Station Bulletin 244, p. 

 102. 



1909. Britton, W, E. Ninth Report 

 Connecticut Station Entomology, p, 370. 

 A pest on hemlock. 



Allied Species of Weevils Fonnd on 

 Strawljerry 



Several very closely allied weevils have 

 been found infesting the strawberry in 



