{fi'M'wi £*ll f Qtftifl f CdSh cro P s ot sindll taf ms in the
kjllltm l-tll J11.1.P -1. VrX iJULmI. Norllieast, and the beetle is the
, insect pest of greatest concern to
Insect control provides good becoming resistant to insecticides.
x 07 Some tanners are spraying weekly
when beetles are abundant,
Cantelo says. Wlule frequent
spraying may protect the standing
crop, it serves to accelerate beetle
resistance, he cautioned.
To postpone this resistance,
Cantelo is developing a model that
will predict returns in yield from
several different starting
populations of the beetle.
“This information may enable
growers to reduce pesticide
treatments,” he said.
The brightly colored adult
beetles emerge from the ground in
May and live about 30 days,
feeding and producing offspring
which produce more offspring. By
the middle of August, the progeny
of one pair of beetles could con
sume 45 square feet of tomato
foliage a day according to
news for tomato farmers
The future outlook for con
trolling the destructive Colorado
potato beetle looks brighter now
that two U.S. Department of
Agriculture entomologists have
found a bacterium deadly to the
beetle grubs.
George E. Cantwell of USDA’s
Agricultural Research Service
reported that a variety of the
bacterium Bacillus thunngiensis
killed more than 85 percent of the
beetle grubs in two experimental
field tests—one on potatoes, the
other on tomatoes.
Weekly spraying prevented the
young grubs from developing into
destructive older grubs and
provided almost complete
protection to the plants, he said.
Adult beetles were not killed but
stopped feeding alter about a
week.
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Several commercial B.t.
preparations are being used to
control gypsy moths, cabbage
loopers and cotton pests, among
others. Another species of this
bacterium, commonly known as
milky spore, has been used for
over 35 years to control Japanese
beetle grubs in lawns. However,
none of these products is effective
against the Colorado potato beetle,
Cantwell said.
Cantwell and colleague William
W. Cantelo reported their efforts to_
solve the Colorado potato beetle
problem at the symposium on
small farms research.
The beetle causes millions of
dollars in annual losses to potato
fields in the Northeast and Nor
thwest and to tomato and other
related vegetable plants as well.
Tomatoes are one of the leading
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Honey Brook. PA RD 2. Watsontown. PA 17777
215-273-3131 717-538-5521
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717-442-8134
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215-593-6731
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RFD 2, Chambersburg, PA
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Box 121, ROl
Myerstown, PA
717-933-4758
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Rt. 2, Newville, PA
“17-776-7533
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1601 S. Dupont Bivd.
Milford, DE
302-422-4837
laboratory feeding studies, says
Cantelo.
In held studies, he used the data
obtained in these feeding studies to
simulate beetle damage to tomato
plants. By removing foliage at the
same escalating rate, he found that
one pair of beetles infesting garden
variety tomatoes in late May
would completely defoliate '2O
plants by the end of July and (JO
points by mid-August.
in both cases the seasonal yield
was reduced by at least 50 percent.
One pair of beetles would also
cause substantial seasonal losses
in commercial variety tomatoes.
However, beetle feeding would not
be so destructive to the com
mercial grower because most of
these varieties are generally
plowed under after they produce
the bulk of their crop in mid
summer before the beetle
population peaks, Cantelo ex
plained.
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“Getting control over the tirst
generation of beetles would help
keep their population below
damaging levels for the rest of the
growing season," says Cantelo.
Farmers may soon have the
option to using a biological in
secticide to get early control and,
at the same time, stem the insect’s
resistance.
Although B.t. products have not
been widely accepted by farmers,
probably because they are slower
acting than chemical insecticides,
they have several other ad
vantages over chemical in
secticides.
They are nonpolluting and can be
sprayed on crops up to the tune of
harvest. And fruits and vegetables
can be eaten right after spraying,
says Cantwell. During the course
of these experiments, Cantwell
learned from a visiting Russian
(Turn to Page 022)
a*#***'