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Re: Potato IPM for Ukraine



Hi Laura,

No one's laughing. Self rising flour does do a job on leaf eaters. What else
are you going to do with refined white flour, anyhow?  Of  course, its in
the same league as beer for slugs.  I use that too, but  imagine the impact
of  that one on a large scale.  Maybe you can get Pillsbury and Budweiser
to sponsor a (large scale) research / demo project!

RAY



At 10:31 PM 5/15/97, you wrote:
>At risk of sending hundreds of people to the floor with laughter, I will
>suggest
>a lowcost, lowtech alternative:  self-rising flour..........
>
>Okay, okay, now pick yourselves up off the floor, wipe your eyes and I'll
>continue.
>
>I've never used it with potatoes, but I have used it successfully in
>several east coast US climates in home gardens with any kind of insect that
>eats the leaves of plants.  You have to be willing to accept some damage to
>the plants, because the way the flour gets into the bug is via eating
>leaves that have been dusted with the flour.  And you have to keep the
>leaves dusted. But it works.
>
>A entomologist friend tells me that the mechanism is probably the
>following: the baking powder (soda?) in the flour (self-rising, remember)
>reacts with the acid guts of the insects, creates CO2 and boom! Busted
>guts.  I have personally seen the ground littered with hundreds of dead
>japanese beetles 24 hours after dusting beans and ornamental bushes during
>a particularly heavy beetle season......
>
>I suspect that if it works with potato beetles, it wouldn't take much
>ingenuity to create a duster that would work on large fields.  I have no
>idea what kind of general environmental impact such a practice would have,
>but in my gardens, I've not noticed any particular problems with other,
>non-leaf-eating insects.  The good ones seem to still be there.
>
>For what it's worth....
>
>Laura
>
>
>At 09:14 AM 5/15/97 +0000, you wrote:
>>Here is one response to your request for information about Colorado 
>>Potato Beetle infor for the Ukraine.  Duane Preston is Area Potato 
>>Specialist for Minnesota and North Dakota.
>>
>>Darnell Lundstrom
>>
>>
>>------ Forwarded Message Follows -------
>>Date:          Mon, 12 May 1997 22:45:35 -0500
>>From:          Duane Preston <dpreston@mes.umn.edu>
>>Reply-to:      dpreston@mes.umn.edu
>>Organization:  University of Minnesota
>>To:            dlundstr@ndsuext.nodak.edu
>>Subject:       Re: Potato IPM for Ukraine
>>
>>Darnell Lundstrom wrote:
>>> 
>>> Duane and Phil
>>> 
>>> Any thoughts about this request for low tech, low cost,  Colorado
>>> Potato Beetle control.  If we have anything, I'm sure we can probably
>>> get it translated.  I think we still have some Ukrainians over in
>>> Animal Science.
>>> 
>>> Thanks.
>>> 
>>> Darnell
>>>
>>Darnell, I don't have really any solution for the problem in the
>>Ukraine, as they as so short of chemicals and they keep using the same
>>ones over and over building up resistance very rapidly, from what I have
>>been told from the Minnesota project in Russia.  In fact Dave Noetzal,
>>is over in Krasnodor on as assignment at present for Con-Agra, I
>>beleive.  You may want to contact Dr. Bill Fenster, in International
>>Programs, St Paul for his address etc.
>>
>>Only solution I believe would be through Genetic Engineering like
>>Monsanto NewLeaf potatoes that have a Bt gene that the beetles won't eat
>>the plants.
>>
>>I guess they have tried flaming, and I have seen vacuums, but they dont
>>seem to work.
>>
>>The only sure cure is a can with kerosine in after they are hand picked.
>>
>>The best solution is to export some of the millions of cwt. we will be
>>dumping across the US. this year.  However, I have worked in enought
>>foriegn counties to know that the logistics would not get the fresh
>>potatoes to the people before spoiled and the reason why flakes, and
>>granules are a better option, where they just add water.
>>
>>I probably didn't help much but some different opinions.
>>
>>Duane Preston
>>
>>
>>
>
>
Ray R. Weil
Professor of Soil Science
Dept. of Natural Resource Sciences & LA
1103 H.J. Patterson Hall
University of Maryland
College Park, MD 20742
USA

telephone: 301 405 1314
FAX:            301 314 9041
e-mail:  rw17@umail.umd.edu