WHITE-FRINGED BEETLE

A, a, Strawberry plant injured by white-fringed beetles; b, adult beetle. B. Larval injury to alfalfa root system; a, 'female' ovipositing under ground litter; b, egg mass; c, pupa; d, full-grown larva; ;e and f, immature larvae. (A and B, natural size.) C, Adult beetle (four times natural size )

WHITE-FRINGED BEETLE

White-fringed beetle grubs live in the soil and feed on the roots of many kinds of plants, including beans, cotton, corn, peanuts, potatoes, various weeds, and ornamentals. They feed most heavily in the spring when nearly full-grown.

The three species and several races of white-fringed beetles are similar in appearance and habits. The one illustrated is Graphognathus leucoloma striatus.

About 310,000 acres of land in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee were known to be infested with beetles in 1951.

The insects pass -,he winter as grubs. In spring or early summer most of the grubs change to adults in little cells, which they form in the soil. The adults all of them wingless females normally emerge from the soil during the summer. They lay their eggs in small masses, usually attached to plant stems, sticks, or pebbles at or just below the soil surface. A single beetle may live 2 or 3 months and lay 600 to 700 eggs. The eggs hatch in about 2 weeks in warm, moist weather, and the grubs immediately enter the soil, where they remain until full-grown. There is usually one generation a year.

Control: The Department of Agriculture is cooperating with State agencies in the control of white-fringed beetles and the maintenance of quarantines to prevent their spread.

Control of larvae by soil treatment. Apply 10 pounds of DDT per acre uniformly to the soil surface as a dust (example, 200 pounds of a 5 percent DDT dust) by hand or with a mechanical distributor, or apply as a spray. Disk or cultivate immediately into the top 3 inches of soil.

Control of adults by foliage applications. Spray yards, vacant lots, idle fields, shrubs, flowers, or other plants not used as food for man or animals with 1/2 to 1 pound of DDT per acre in a water suspension or an emulsion. Apply the spray every 10 to 15 days throughout the beetle season. For a suspension spray use 2 pounds of a wettable powder containing 50 percent of DDT in 100 gallons of water, or, for small quantities, 1/3 ounce of this powder in 1 gallon of water. DDT emulsions have greater residual value than suspensions. Ready-prepared emulsions are obtainable and should be used according to directions on the container.

In gardens, pastures, or on crops to be used as food, apply 8 to 10 pounds of cryolite in 100 gallons of water per acre at intervals of 7 to 10 days throughout the season.

Control by cultural practices. Legume crops are favored by white-fringed beetles. Keep infestations low by the following practices: Plant oats or other small grains in heavily infested fields. Do not plant more than one-fourth of the cropland in annual legumes each year, and do not plant the same land to these crops more than once in 3 or 4 years. Do not intercrop corn with peanuts, soybeans, crotalaria, or velvetbeans. Practice clean cultivation. Fertilize corn or cotton heavily with commercial fertilizer or by turning under a winter cover crop.