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Meg Farris / Eyewitness News
Email: mfarris@wwltv.com | Twitter: @megfarriswwl
NEW ORLEANS — There are many children and teens in the New Orleans area living with asthma. And now, for the first time, a local researcher is testing something very common in this area that might be the reason children are going to the hospital with severe asthma attacks: cockroaches.
The Greater New Orleans Pest Control Association’s 4th Annual Termite Academy is a Louisiana Structural Board Commission accredited course and will be offered in New Orleans on February 7-9, 2012.
In October, adult moths were found in Jefferson Davis Parish in monitoring traps approximately 10 miles south of Welsh. The traps are maintained by the Louisiana Department of Agriculture and Forestry.
The pest, which came to Louisiana from Texas, was previously found in east Calcasieu Parish in a rice crop.
The discovery should not set off a panic, said LSU AgCenter entomologist Natalie Hummel. “The thing we don’t want people to do is go out and change their management strategy if they don’t typically have a problem with borers. We encourage people in the infested parishes to monitor their rice crop more closely next season and use management strategies as needed.”
At the recent Rice Outlook Conference in Austin, Texas, LSU AgCenter rice specialist Johnny Saichuk said that the borer is not expected to be a major problem. “I don’t think it’s anything to panic about.”
Farmers who use the Dermacor seed treatment against rice water weevils should get protection against the Mexican rice borer, Hummel said.
The borer and treatment options will be discussed at the LSU AgCenter winter rice clinics being held the first week of January.
LSU AgCenter entomologist Gene Reagan, who has studied the Mexican rice borer extensively, said the pest probably will cause more damage to sugarcane than rice.
From Delta Farm Press
A citrus disease fairly new to Louisiana may cause problems for commercial growers, but not so much for backyard growers, according to LSU AgCenter experts.
The Mexican rice borer continues to expand its territory in Louisiana after migrating from Texas.
Scientists have found that hiding a toxin within yeast and cellulose powder bait holds promise in destroying termite colonies.
Louisiana’s sub-tropical climate can present numerous challenges to agricultural producers. Numerous insects thrive in this environment and can prove difficult and costly to manage.
Spraying herbicides is never without some risk, but that risk increases dramatically when growers spray when winds are high. Dr. Eric Webster talked about the risks of drift and what can be done to address those in his stop on the LSU Rice Research Station Field Day tours earlier this summer. Webster says proper cleaning of spray equipment is also important.
Watch the video at Delta Farm Press.
With Louisiana now having achieved eradication status in the decade-plus effort to rid the country of the yield-robbing cotton pest, the entire Mid-South region is now officially weevil-free.
Read the rest at Delta Farm Press.
