Combating the Boll Weevil in NC Cotton Fields, 1946

By F.H. Jeter, Extension Editor, N.C. State College, Raleigh, as published in the Charlotte News, Feb. 9, 1948

Heavy infestation of the boll weevil in 1946 and a resulting decrease in cotton production prompted T.B. Upchurch Jr., Raeford farmer, to run some tests on the effectiveness of the new insecticide Benzene Hexachloride. Seven hours after an experimental treatment of five acres, an average of 1,560 dead weevils per acre were counted.

Using airplane dusting, eight pounds of BHC per acre was applied to the plot. Long strips of building paper had been placed between the rows so that an accurate count of the dead pests could be made. In the first hour after treatment, 150 dead weevils per acre were county; after two hours, 462 per acre; after three hours, 627; after four hours, 820; and 1,560 after seven hours.

“We were surprised,” Mr. Upchurch said, “with the speed that the insecticide killed the weevils. The time element was most important as it was raining almost every day.”

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“We were able to keep infestation down below 12 per cent on the fields we dusted every five days until the migration set in,” Mr. Upchurch related.  “Then we could kill thousands per acre only to have thousands more appear as if by magic. We counted more than 13,000 dead per acre on one occasion and more than 10,000 per acre several different times.”

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“I feel that we made one-half bale more on each acre we dusted than we would have had we not used BHC.”

He said he appreciated the recommendations and assistance offered in his tests by E.S. Bondy, entomologist with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and W.M. Kulash, entomologist for the N.C. Agricultural Experiment Station at State College.