09/25/07 Tuber moths but no worms

A couple of years ago tuber moths were found near Parma. With that discovery the Idaho State Department of Agriculture launched a program to find and trap the moths or tuber worms. COOPER "We've never found a worm in the fields. We've caught a few moths but we've never found a worm." ISDA's Mike Cooper says they started with traps near Parma and in Elmore County where the moths were first found. That trapping effort was greatly expanded but now Cooper says they may be cutting back because of a lack of moths and no worms. COOPER "The only trapping we may do next year may be a little bit in the Parma area. We've been putting out 400 to 500 traps for the past two or three years. Based on what we find we'll probably scale that back significantly and just kind of monitor Parma." The potato industry wants to do all it can to keep the tuber worms from infesting any Idaho fields. COOPER "I'm beginning to believe that tuber worm over here doesn't establish very well and we may get little spikes now and then that you may never notice unless you go look for them." About a dozen moths were found in southwestern Idaho in 2005, the first finds in the state since the 1950's. Voice of Idaho Agriculture Bill Scott