ASPARAGUS DISEASES—ASPARAGUS PESTS 
Asparagus Stalk Four Feet Long, Four 
Inches Wide and One Inch Thick. 
Fig. 1. 
tendency under certain conditions, to 
vary from the normal. The stalk which 
this figure represents was about four 
feet long, four inches wide, and one inch 
thick. 
ASPARAGUS PESTS 
Asparagus Miner 
Agromyza simplex Loew 
General Appearance 
The adult flies have a wing expanse of 
about one-sixth of an inch and are metal- 
lic-black in color. The maggots are one- 
fifth of an inch long and white. The 
puparia are one-seventh of an inch long 
and red. : 
Life History 
The first adult insects appear early in 
the spring, other broods appearing later. 
The larvae mine beneath the epidermis 
of the stalks near the bases and may 
penetrate eight inches underground. The 
injury is often so severe as to completely 
girdle the stems and thus do much dam- 
age. The puparia are formed in the bur- 
rows, especially on the roots and bases 
of the stalks. There are at least two 
generations each year. 
Distribution 
This fly has been reported from New 
England to Tennessee and in California. 
Food Plant 
This pest works only upon asparagus 
plants. 
Control 
The control of the fly is somewhat dif- 
ficult and consists in the use of trap 
crops early in the spring, which should 
561 
be removed, roots and all, and burned 
in June. Other traps should be allowed 
to grow up immediately and similarly 
destroyed in the fall. 
Cutting out all infested stalks as often 
as they appear is also advisable. 
E. O. Essia 
Common Asparagus Beetle 
Crioceris asparagi Linn. 
General Appearance 
The adult beetles are slightly less than 
one-fourth of an inch in length and 
very slender. The color is metallic blu- 
ish-black with red thorax marked with 
black dots. The reddish-yellow or cream 
colored wing covers are marked with 
black. The eggs are elongate, about one- 
tenth of an inch long, dark brown or 
black and stuck to the shoots by one 
end. The larvae are shiny olive gray 
with black head and legs. The pupal 
stage is passed in the ground in a thin 
cocoon, the pupae being yellowish in 
color. 
Life History 
The adults hibernate during the winter 
under any protective covering and appear 
in the spring about the time the young 
asparagus shoots are coming through the 
ground. The adults immediately begin to 
feed upon the tender sprouts and to lay 
their eggs upon them. The eggs hatch in 
about a week and the grubs begin to feed 
upon the sprouts. The broods continue 
to work throughout the summer eating 
all parts of the asparagus plants. After 
about two weeks the larvae are ready to 
pupate. They then leave the plant and 
work into the soil where pupation takes 
place and within eight or nine days 
they emerge as adults. The entire life 
cycle requires one month but there are 
many overlapping generations each year. 
Distribution 
New England, south and west to the 
Mississippi, and in California. 
Food Plant 
So far as known, the pest feeds only 
upon asparagus, attacking principally the 
tender shoots but also working upon the 
rind and stems of the older seed plants. 
