CULT:pests

Friends -- It seems that every other season brings a new pest. Most
years, I have a lot of pods that curl over and, upon examination, have a
hole on the underside and no seeds. Often, there is a resident insect of
some sort. This year, of more than 1,000 plants, I have, blessedly, only
two such pods. Instead, I have had an infestation of tiny critters
inside the spathes of my latterly-produced (i.e., toward the end of the
season) seed pods. When I discovered them, I began patrolling the most
recent crosses and found that they are already in the spathe when the
pod forms. They apparently feed on the developing pod and upon its stem
and will kill the pod without intervention. As I peeled off the membrane
encasing the pod, I found these pests were white and already dead, but
had sapped the pod, so that the lower portion was shriveled or shrunken.
Worse, they had weakened the pod's stem, so that it turned black and was
thin and brittle. I snapped off two pods while trying to groom them.

Is anyone familiar with this pest? I am pessimistic about being able to
prevent it, since it attacks so early in the development of the pod.

Griff Crump. along the tidal Potomac near Mount Vernon, VA 
jgcrump@erols.com
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