Bulletin 151, Truck and Garden Insects


the beetle probably never will be as severe a pest to the main
crop in Florida as it is to the Northern crop, because the insect
is in hibernation during most of the period when the winter
potatoes are growing. In the northern and western parts of
the State, during the summer when there are no potatoes, it
feeds on tomatoes and wild species of Solanum. The latter
should be destroyed if found near potato fields in those parts of
the State.
 The insect is easily controlled by lead arsenate. When po-
tatoes are regularly sprayed with bordeaux, as they should be
as a precaution against blight, the lead arsenate can be added
to that solution.
 OTHER POTATO PESTS
 Other insects attacking potatoes are: Flea-beetles (see
under beets, page 136) ; plant-lice (see under cabbage, page 144) ;
pumpkin bugs (see under cowpeas, page 161) ; blister-beetles
(see under beets, page 134) ; and mealy bugs (see page 205).

 RADISHES
 The insects commonly attacking radishes are: Garden aphid
 (see plant-lice under cabbage, page 144) ; cabbage root-maggot
 (see under cabbage, page 146) ; and flea-beetles (see under beets,
 page 136).
 ROSELLE
 The chief insect pest of this crop are the okra caterpillar
 (see page 171), and the corn earworms (see page 151).

 SQUASH
 VINE BORER (Melittia satyriniformis)
 The larva of this moth mines into the interior of the vine
and causes it to wilt and finally to die. The grub (fig. 103, d) is
whitish in color, somewhat flattened, and is about an inch long.
After completing its growth, the larva leaves the plant and en-
ters the ground to pupate. The adult, a moth (fig. 103, a),
measures 11/4 inches across the wings. It is an attractive in-
sect with its hind-wings transparent in the centers and mar-
gined with brown; fore-wings olive-brown, olive-green thorax,
and orange abdomen. The eggs are laid on the vines near the
ground, hatch in 7 days and the grub at once bores into the
stem of the plant.