Weevil eats Mile-a-minute vines!

There is an article in the Philadelphia Inquirer yesterday about the biological control program for Mile-a-minute vine (Polygonum perfoliatum)

A minute Weevil Rhinoncomimus latipes has been extensively tested to be sure it will only eat the mile-a-minute plants (I hope it is well enough tested!) and has been released in this area.

The Philadelphia Inquirer said:

"At last count, more than 66,000 weevils have been released at 61 sites in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland and West Virginia."
...................

"A week and a half ago, Judy Hough-Goldstein, of the University of Delaware, stood before a group of experts at an invasive-plants conference at the University of Pennsylvania, providing an update on R. latipes. The prognosis was good.

"A lot of plant mortality this year," she said. "Go, weevils!"

Either way, not even the most optimistic think the weevil will expunge mile-a-minute from the landscape. The idea is to restore balance.

"It's kind of like an arms race," Dionigi said.

Best-case scenario: The weevils will knock back mile-a-minute and then, with few host plants, decline themselves. Then the weed will gain ground, but soon the remaining weevils will proliferate. And so on."

Further extensive reading which includes :
Releases of R. latipes in Maryland
USDA Aphis - environmental assessment and finding of no significant impact have been prepared by the Animal

and Plant Health Inspection Service relative to issuing a permit for
the environmental release of the nonindigenous weevil Rhinoncomimus
latipes Korotyaev (Coleoptera: Curculionidae), a potential biological
control agent of mile-a-minute weed (Polyganum perfoliatum).
Invasive.org Information about Mile-a-minute and other potential biological controls

Comments

Clay said…
Talking about planting, it would be good topic. Planting is needed as a way for avoiding disaster such as flood. It will make our world green.
April 30, 2011 at 3:50 AM
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