Re: iris borer moth- undercovers?

> How do iris borers first get into a brand new garden of iris rhizomes
>if they never "even attempt to fly?" Are we to believe that moths
>crawl from *wherever* to a new iris bed?  We live about 8 miles from
>the nearest garden of any kind [really hermits] and yet tomato
>hornworms and cabbage loopers found our first veggie garden in 15
>years.

The single moth I observed did not attempt to fly and I watched it for only
about 15 minutes.  That doesn't mean that other borer moths would not fly
or that even this moth would not fly sometime.  But they don't seem to LIKE
to fly, at least during the day.  Obviously they do fly sometimes.  The
adults of tomato hornworms and cabbage loopers are strong fliers, so it's
no surprise that they quickly find their food plants.


> I think these guys must be flying around eating lots of other stuff
>just hoping someone might plant an iris.     Knowing alternative food
>sources might help us eliminate the borer by eliminating the "   "
>sources.  Am I onto something here?
> Virginia    middle Georgia zone 7/8

This deserves investigation.  Some time ago, someone posted an excerpt from
an old pamphlet that stated that iris borer moths do feed on other
"thick-rooted" perennials.  This makes sense, if the borer is an American
native.  It would originally have been pretty much limited to I. virginica
and I. versicolor, both of which often grow in standing water, and the
borer probably could not survive that situation after emerging from the
rhizome.  But I was not able to find any information about other host
plants--in fact there's very little research information out there at all.
It would be money well spent if the AIS would invest some cash providing a
grant to some graduate student in a university entomology department to
investigate the basic biology of the borer.  But AIS would have to take the
initiative; it's unlikely any student would come up with the idea on his or
her own.

Bill Shear
Department of Biology
Hampden-Sydney College
Hampden-Sydney VA 23943
(804)223-6172
FAX (804)223-6374
email<bills@hsc.edu>
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