With the help of a mouse and a modem, a southern Alberta farmer has identified a potentially devastating pea pest.
For the second year in a row, an unknown insect has been chewing the young leaves of Nobby Sudo’s pea crop near Lethbridge.
Government specialists couldn’t identify the pest, so Sudo, who had never used the internet before, turned to the worldwide web to find an
answer.
“I’m too old for that (the internet), but necessity made me do it,” he said.
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After logging on and doing a bit of research, Sudo suspected the pest might be the pea leaf weevil.
Later, he asked Lethbridge Research Centre scientist Kevin Floate to confirm his theory.
The pea leaf weevil is a common insect in Europe and the United States but until now, it has never been reported in Alberta, said Floate.
He took samples of the weevil from Sudo’s field and from field plots at the Lethbridge research station. The samples were sent to Ottawa for analysis and the tests confirmed Sudo’s suspicions.
Not common
The insect wasn’t the sweet clover weevil commonly found in southern Alberta.
Instead, it was a pea leaf weevil, an insect that has the potential to cause thousands of dollars of damage to pea crops.
“I tip my hat to the producer,” said Floate.
“It has the potential for a serious pest problem.”
Floate suspects the insect arrived from Montana and southern British Columbia, where it is already established.
There are no chemicals registered in Canada for the weevil, although entomologists in the United States are seeking a biological control.
Although the pest was found in only two sites, the research scientists didn’t look hard for more samples. They’re unsure how long the weevil has been in southern Alberta.
The adult pea leaf weevil emerges from overwintering sites and chews notches in the leaves of legume seedlings including peas, beans, sweet peas, alfalfa and clover.
It looks very similar to the sweet clover weevil.
Floate said the weevil isn’t a big concern now, but it has the possibility of becoming one.
