Vol. 4 #7  

 Agriculture:  Things are happening left and right with the bug world right now. Potato beetles are running rampant. Be sure not to let the little devils defoliate more than 10-15% of the foliage. This is especially important as the taters start to set tubers and the tubers enlarge. We are coming into the tail end of the first generation and the earliest of the second generation adults should not be out for another two to three weeks. Also, your systemic insecticides may run out earlier due to higher soil temperatures which could lead to faster uptake and/or breakdown.

  While on the subject of potatoes, be ever watchful now for green peach aphid. We’ve been pretty free of them so far but now is the time to be vigilant. Especially since they are finding HUGE populations in the Columbia basin. So far in Idaho we are having a “normal” aphid year. At least one spot of good news.

     I’ve seen a couple fields of hay this past week that had damage from false chinch bugs. It’s easy to tell the little blighters since the ground seems to be alive with them. They really like waste areas and usually we don’t see them until August and generally not causing crop damage. But this is an unusual year with all the desert and waste areas drying early. So if you see these around, watch the crop carefully. They suck plant sap and there are usually so many of them together that they could do some real damage.

     Since it is hot and dry, be on the lookout for other pests that like this kind of weather i.e. spider mites. Mites will probably be early this year. Just be on the lookout for any odd kind of insect problem that may be related to drought and hot conditions.

 Homeowner:  OK all you gardeners, sunbather, and swimmers. Get out of that pool and inspect your plants! Be on the lookout for any bug that might be worse due to drought and hot conditions. Do spider mites come to mind? How about grasshoppers on your weeds? Speaking of weeds, I mentioned an insect to the ag guys that you need to be aware of. It is the dreaded false chinch bug. We usually don’t see it until August but it is already moving around this year. You know them, they are the ones that move by the thousands in lines into your yard from waste areas. They like weedy plants to feed on but guess what?- that stuff is already dry. They usually don’t damage yard plants and gardens but keep alert.

     On another totally unrelated note, have you been noticing the new ads for flea controls on TV? There are some claims that fleas will be gone in an hour after treatment. Seems far fetched, but guess what? I’ve seen the data on these and it is true. There are many new flea materials out there and they are all effective and safer than the old ones. It was tough duty but I had to attend an international meeting in Ireland to find all this out. Just one word of caution. One add talks about no pesticide residue with a particular oral flea treatment. Well, all of them are pesticides and will leave some residue or breakdown products for a while. It’s just that all the new ones are very safe to animals and man. Most of the external ones are applied to just one spot so there is very little danger. Sales pitches!

     Well, that’s about it for now. Looks like we’ll have lots of “happy bugging” before this year is ended!