Re: Purple Loosestrife

In a message dated 8/10/00 12:13:36 PM Eastern Daylight Time, LONDE@aol.com 
writes:

<< DNR biologists began releasing the insects in 1994, after exhaustive 
testing 
 to be sure they would be safe, explains Brock Woods, a DNR ecologist. 
 "Careful monitoring has shown them to be an effective, natural control for 
 the nuisance weed. They can decimate purple loosestrife while ignoring 
 agricultural crops and native plant species," Woods said. So far the beetles 
 have been the more successful of the two species. They eat the leaves of the 
 plant, but can also prevent flowering. "We thought it might take 10 years to 
 see significant results, but in some cases we’re seeing them in two or 
three. 
 I recently stopped by one of our beetle release sites at Horicon Marsh, and 
 couldn’t believe it," Woods said. "I did not see a single living loosestrife 
 plant in the area where we released the bugs. Now the bugs are moving to 
 other loosestrife nearby."  >>

===>This makes me much more nervous than genetic modification of plants.  I'm 
very worried about what those beetles are going to do when they finish all 
the loosestrife.  It is little consolation that they "ignore eagricultural 
crops and native plant species"--heck, they've still got more loosestrife to 
eat.  And agricultural crops and native plant species do not begin to 
describe everything in my garden.
Bill Lee
Z6a

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