08/14/06 Tuberworm information meeting

This Wednesday, August 16th, there will be an informational meeting in Parma for potato growers and processors to update them on potato tuberworm. Idaho State Department of Agriculture entomologist Ben Simko says the first tuberworm moth has been captured this season in a pheromone trap near Parma. The potato tuberworm, or PTW, is a small insect that can infest both the potato foliage and the tuber with the potential for significant crop damage. But Simko says the August 1st discovery is not cause for alarm. SIMKO "You know one moth in one trap with 80 traps out there is pretty low population density at this time." Despite extensive inspections no live worms or tuber damage associated with PTW was ever found in Idaho and most of the state is free of it. The pest did cause problems for growers near Hermiston, Oregon in 2002 and it spread into the Columbia basin fields of Washington where growers shelled out money for tuberworm control. That's why ISDA and the University of Idaho started the detection trapping program last year. SIMKO "End of May we put those out early and then we got the Magic Valley and Eastern Idaho covered with a whole bunch of other traps that went out last week." The Wednesday meeting begins at noon at the University of Idaho Parma Research Center and should be very helpful to growers, especially in and around the Parma area. Today's Idaho Ag News Bill Scott