WASHINGTON - “Any day now
we will get the expected telephone
call telling us that the wasps are
coming,’’ says Robert Meinders,
an inspector for the U.S. Depart
ment of Agriculture.
He has a smile on his face when
he makes this statement, because
the wasps he talks about are not
the large, stinging variety, but tiny
insects, no bigger than a quarter of
an inch, that attack only the
destructive alfalfa weevil
Meinders, of UsDA’s Animal and
Plant Health Inspection Service in
Tulsa, Okla., has local respon
sibility for implementing a
biological control program that
pits wasps against weevils.
Meinders explains that the
University of Del.
Appoints Plant Scientist
NEWARK, Del. - Dr. Jeffrey J.
Fuhrmann, a soil microbiologist
specializing in microbial ecology,
has joined the University of
Delaware’s Department of Plant
Science. Fuhrmann earned his
doctorate in soil science from
North Carolina State University.
He also holds a master’s degree
from there. He earned his
bachelor’s degree from Humboldt
State University in Areata,
California.
Fuhnnann’s speciality is soil
bacteria-particularly the varieties
that fix atmospheric nitrogen in
root nodules of leguminous plants.
Seeds of legumes such as soybeans
are often inoculated with this
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Wasps Offer Alternative for Alfalfa Weevil Control
wasps will be released in an alfalfa
field infested with alfalfa weevils,
where they will attack both adult
and larval weevils and help reduce
the population of the pest.
“What we’re doing here locally
is part of a nationwide plan to
protect alfalfa, the nation’s leading
forage crop, against its worst
enemy,’’ Meinders says. “Alfalfa
weevils are known to be in every
one of the lower 48 states, and they
do $1 billion worth of damage in a
bad year.”
The APHIS-coordinated cam
paign against the alfalfa weevil
was started in 1980 as part of a
program to identify pest problems
that could be fought by biological
bacteria before planting to in
crease yields and/or reduce the
need for commercial nitrogen
fertilizer. Most of his research to
date has been on soybeans, a
major crop in the Delmarva
peninsula.
According to chairman Dr. Allen
Morehart, Fuhnnann’s ap
pointment will strengthen the plant
science department’s soil research
program and enhance both
graduate and undergraduate
teaching programs.
Fuhrmann will teach two
courses in the department of plant
science-an undergraduate course
on agricultural microbiology and a
graduate level class on soil
microbiology.
control agents. APHIS officials
develop and implement practical
methods to raise the agents in
large numbers and then distribute
and track them in the field.
Meinders says that most field
releases of the wasps are made by
employees of the Cooperative
Extension Service and State
Departments of Agriculture; other
agencies and farm groups also
help make the program effective.
Local farmers join in the battle
against alfalfa weevils, Meinders
says, because they want to reduce
their dependence on agricultural
chemicals. Farmers allow one of
their fields to be dedicated as a
beachhead for the incoming wasps.
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The farmers keep the field free of
pesticides and delay the first
cutting of alfalfa so the weevils can
feast long enough to be a good host
to the newly established wasps.
If all goes well, weevil numbers
in the field drop dramatically as
the wasps knock them down, and a
good number of wasps go on to
colonize other alfalfa fields in the
area. Eventually, enough wasps
become established to keep
damage to alfalfa within ac
ceptable limits.
Meinders says the tiny wasps
don’t sting and raise welts like
their larger cousins, and don’t
bother humans and farm animals
at all. When they attack alfalfa
For
That's Us I
weevils, they insert eggs into the
bodies of both adults and larvae.
When the eggs hatch, the young
chew the weevils to death.
“We put out one to 20 boxes, each
holding about a thousand in
dividuals, depending on the local
situation,’’ Meinders says. “This
may include one to four species of
related wasps that attack alfalfa
weevils. In two years, we’ll come
back to the field to see how the
walps are doing. If they haven’t
colonized successfully, we’ll try
again the next year. In six years of
experience, we found that 60
percent of the releases suc
cessfully established the wasps in
new areas.”
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