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Bean weevil - Acanthoscelides obtectus
Has anyone else had an infestation of this particular bean weevil? This
is going to be a bit long but please bear with me. Yesterday lunchtime I noticed that there were half a dozen or so weevils in our kitchen. There had been one or two on previous days but yesterday they seemed to be getting more numerous. After lunch I decided to investigate. To my horror I discovered that my larder of dried beans, beans both for sowing in spring and for cooking were the source of these weevils! I have red kidney beans, white kidney beans, French beans and runners. The biggest infestation was in the red kidney beans - I had to throw about half of them away - with some of the French beans also infested. The others were untouched - so far! I am at a loss to know where the infestation came from as I have grown beans from my own harvest for years and have never had an infestation before. Looking for information on these bean weevils from my own gardening books did not prove helpful. The only bean weevil known to them (and to any web pages originating from the UK) is the Sitona lineatus; my infestation definitely wasn't that. However, I did find a description which accurately matches my infestation on several American websites and it turns out that what I have is Acanthoscelides obtectus. It is widely found in America and other sub-tropical countries and it accurately describes what I have: a small triangular beetle with wings, about an eighth of an inch in length. The proboscis is not pointed but snub. The grub hatches out within what is an apparently sound bean and cuts a small circular hole in order to exit. The descriptions I have found seem to imply that they mate immediately and push their eggs back into the bean, thus perpetuating the infestation within the stored beans. And so I have several questions: Firstly where did this infestation come from? My beans were grown on my allotment but I haven't heard of any of my neighbours having this problem. The only thing I did differently this year was to spread some horse manure on the allotment, but I can't think that the weevil could have survived in that. But were they infected while growing or did it happen in storage? The only other possibility is that we had someone from Zimbabwe staying in our house while we were away last August. Did he, perhaps, bring some dried beans/peas/pulses with him? Unfortunately I can't ask him now. Secondly, is this weevil known at all in Britain? I could find no reference to an outbreak over here. Since it is devastating should I report it? If so, to whom? I don't know yet whether I shall lose all my beans but within a week or two I have lost a good half of one type. There may still be more to come. I've now put my beans into air-tight bottles (should have done that long ago) - something about horses and stable doors comes to mind! Thirdly, is there any insecticide I can use to prevent further outbreaks? -- +-------------------------------------------------------+ | Internet: | writing from | | Fidonet: David Rance 2:252/110 | Caversham, | | BBS: telnet://mesnil.demon.co.uk | Reading, UK | +-------------------------------------------------------+ |
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