'\/l2 W- S. DEPT. OF AGRICULTURE 



P T?-^ I NATIONAL AGR'r"'"r— V nBRARY 



\nM,^ PtB2 6l963 



C 



January I963 ARS -33-82 



CURRENT SERIAL mmS& 



United States Department of Agriculture 

 Agricultural Research Service 



A COMMUNITY EFFORT IN BOLL WEEVIL CONTROL 



by H. M. Taft and A. R. Hopkins 

 Entomology Research Division 



1/ 



Several studies have indicated that control of overwintered boll 

 weevils ( Anthonomus grandis, Boheman) delayed population increases and 

 reduced the number of late -season applications of insecticide required 

 (Bondy, 1939; Fye, et al., I96I; Ewing and Parencia, 19U9 a and b^ 

 1950). 2/ 



It appeared that an early-season insecticide program for control 

 of the boll weevil on a community-wide basis in the Coastal Plain area 

 of South Carolina should be feasible for the following reasons: (l) 

 Adult populations are lowest early in the season; (2) plants are small 

 at this time and more thorough coverage is possible; (3) overwintered 

 weevils are more susceptible to the chlorinated hydrocarbons than later 

 generations (Brazzel, 1959) and preliminary data have indicated that the 

 insects may react similarly to organic phosphorus compounds (unpublished 

 data); (1;) U.S. Weather Bureau records over the past lj.0 years show that 

 rainfall is greater in July than in June in this area (U.S. Department 

 of Agriculture, 19Ul); and (5) theoretically, oviposition would be 

 greatly reduced by early-season control and if followed by a series . of 

 insecticide applications during late July and August, weevils would not 

 increase sufficiently to cause mass flights from treated fields; thus, 

 100 percent participation in an early-season program by growers in a 

 given area should reduce the number of insecticide applications required 

 later. 



Arrangements were made with a group of 12 cotton farmers in the 

 Wallace, S. C, area to evaluate early-season boll weevil control in a 

 cooperative, grower-applied, area-wide program, involving 1,895 acres 

 of cotton. The purpose of this experiment was to determine: (l) The 

 degree of control achieved by growers directing efforts against over- 

 wintered weevils, (2) the overall efficacy of a large-scale community 

 program, and (3) the time required by the weevil population surviving 

 the early-season applications to increase to economically damaging pro- 

 portions . 



1/ In cooperation with the South Carolina Agricultural Experiment 

 Station, Florence, S. C. 



2/ See References Cited at end of report. 



