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Where sufficient alfalfa survives for cutting, the stand is often ruined by the honeydew which aphids secrete while feeding. A aooty fungus growing in this honeydew soon reduces the leaves and stems to a black, sticky mass. This is unpala-. table, and practically unharvestable with modern field choppers and balers.
California’s State Department of Agriculture estimated that in 1956 the spotted alfalfa aphid caused $13 miillion damage to iflfalfa crops. In. 1956, the aphid cut Oklahoma’s alfalfa production by ou per cent, a loss of $16 million to the growers.
So far, natural preditors such as ladybird beetles, lacewing flies, apd syrphid flies, have not provided any dependable measure of control. Researchers feel there i s promise in this line of attack and are working with a variety of preditors including a fungus that kills aphids.
At present, the Dest control method for alfalfa growers is still
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