OCR Text |
Show Alfalfa Weevil-Life Weevil-Life History By W. W. Owens U. S. A. C. Extension Service. The green worm with a black head which eats the alfalfa leaves, is one stage of the alfalfa weevil which every farmer knows. The entire life of the individual weevil usually covers cov-ers twelve months and it is only in the worm or larval stage for one month but it is at this time it does damage. It is necessary to know where thp weevil is and what it does the other eleven months of its life in order to find the weakest spot at which to strike to destroy it. The worm lives but one month during dur-ing the spring season, varying with altitude, from May through June. Some earlier, some later, but the average worm is considered here. At the end of a month it has grown from a tiny worm, one -twentieth of an inch long, to its mature size three eighths of an inch long. ' It drops down to the ground, curls up and spins around itself a white netlike web called a Gocoon. The cocoon is often attached to a curled up alfalfa alf-alfa leaf which may readily be found by hunting in the stubble. The weevil stays in the cocoon stage for about two weeks during which time it gradually changes from a green worm into a dark brown beetle three-sixteenths of an inch long. This beetle crawls around and is also ab'e to fly. It can be found by searching in the stubble or, if abund- j ant, by looking on the bottom cfi the hayrack just after a load of the second crop has been taken off. The adult never eats enough alfalfa alf-alfa to do noticeable damage. It lives over until the next year spending spend-ing the winter close to the ground under trash and in crevices. In Apnl it lays eggs in the stems of the growing grow-ing alfalfa. About eight eggs are deposited in each hole and one weevil wee-vil averages 500 eggs. These yellow eggs may be found by splitting open an alfalfa stem which has been punctured. The eggs hatch out into in-to small worms in about two weeks I and the new-bom weevil starts on' its year of life. Next Article: Control an Individual Individ-ual Problem. rv- |