t is actually feeding, you can carry it
around in a car for only a short time. The insect seems to stop working
and you can't get a very good sample.
MR. McDANIEL: We have some out there on our pecan trees and on the
walnuts also.
MR. CHANDLER: Down there we found where walnut was interplanted with
pecan, it would be very light on a walnut then. So I thought that maybe
our observations and tests were over before they ever started, but by
July 8 or 10, a new brood had started. Dr. G. C. Decker could hardly
believe it. There is only one brood of the Meadow spittle bug with which
he was familiar, but this was a different species. It was very much more
numerous than the first brood. Ninety-five per cent of the terminals
were infested. If that does anything to nut production it is bound to
reduce the bearing. Now that brood lasted until late August. The adults
continued to emerge for about a month, starting August third, and as far
as I know they were still emerging on Sunday afternoon, August 26.
Now, just before telling about that and showing some of the pictures and
spraying test, I might wind up this part of it by saying something about
the distribution. I wondered if it is in Gallatin County. I found it
abundant there. Mac already says we have some in Urbana. I was wondering
if it was down in the so-called pecan orchards. These orchards are
really just seedling groves. Immense things. I went down there on my way
and they do have it. The first man I met said I think we haven't been
getting pecans because of that spittle bug. It did seem funny to stumble
on the thing. Mr. Casper was really an apple grower. It took him four
years to suffer enough to complain about his pecan insects.
I want to show you some slides. Dr. Kelly will start showing the
pictures.
I tried to take a picture of one of the worst infested branches. Really,
later I found I had taken it a little too soon. This thing actually
hangs down in bags.
This was my attempt to show some of these previous year's growth that
was killed, and there it was. You can see some of this whitish material
here. This was taken after we had sprayed. The new growth is coming
through here.
I must have gotten my finger in the way here. This is the dead part and
the new growth and something working on it.
Another thing that Mr. Casper says is that sometimes it gets bad enough
so that some of these nuts are caused to drop off. They seem to be
pretty well establish
|