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Alfalfa weevil pressure rising with the temperatures in Minnesota

Pest pressure is rising with the temperatures as the first cutting of alfalfa gets underway in Minnesota.

University of Minnesota Extension Integrated Pest Management Specialist Bruce Potter tells Brownfield the crop is benefiting from warmer weather, but so are alfalfa weevils.

“There are some cloverleaf weevils, which are much less of a pest concern. But those alfalfa weevils, we’re not seeing the larvae yet, and that’s what is going to trigger the economic threshold. So alfalfa is late, weevils are late.”

He’s concerned some areas of the state will suffer more than others.

“Getting through the alfalfa weevil season, I think there’s going to be some areas of Minnesota that have problems again (but) it will be variable maybe depending on what the winter snow cover was like.”

Potter says growers most often become aware of alfalfa weevil when they find them on their mower during the first cutting of the year.