Asparagus 



21 



acre on established plantations. An asparagus bed or field 

 should yield ^Yell for 10 to 20 years. 



Rust (Puccinia asparagi). — Reddish or black pustules are 

 produced on the stems and branches of the plant, killing them 

 prematurely. Control: No plants should be permitted to 

 mature during the cutting season and all diseased plants 

 should be cut and burned in the fall. Spraying with bordeaux 

 mixture to which some sticker has been added will aid in 

 control. Certain resistant strains have been developed, espe- 

 cially by the United States Department of Agriculture. These 

 should be used in new plantings. 



Beetle {Grioceris asparagi). — A gray larva with black head, 

 about in. long, feeding on the young shoots in spring and 

 weakening the plant for the following year. The beetle is 

 about 1/4 in- long with prominent orange and black pattern 

 on back, passing the winter in piles of rubbish and under 

 bark ; eggs are laid in early spring, on end in a line on young 

 growths of asparagus ; they hatch in 3 to 8 days and the young 

 larvae begin to feed. Control: Keep the crop cut clean and 

 starve them out; leave a row or two of asparagus plants on 

 which to poison the larvip, using arsenate of lead paste, 1 lb. in 

 20 gals, water ; spray the plantation after cutting season is past ; 

 let poultry run in the asparagus ; clean up rubbish in the fall. 



Twelve- SPOTTED asparagus beetle (Crioceris duodecimpunc- 

 tata). — About the size of the common asparagus beetle, red- 

 dish orange in color with twelve round black spots on the wing 

 covers. The beetles appear in spring along with the common 

 asparagus beetle and gnaw holes in the tender shoots. The 

 oval eggs are attached by the side, singly, to the leaves. The 

 young grubs enter the berries above; they feed on the seeds, 

 migrating from berry to berry until mature. Pupation takes 

 place in the ground. The insect hibernates as a beetle in dry 

 sheltered places. Control: As the larvae feed inside the berries 

 they cannot be poisoned, but the adults may be destroyed by 

 the same measures as recommended for the common asparagus 

 beetle. 



