Controlling stinkbugs and pecan weevils

    With all the rain we've had in early August, pecan weevils have been emerging nearly every day since late July. However, with nut development two weeks late, the female weevils are not yet laying eggs inside the nuts. For now, weevils are feeding on nuts and causing nut drop.
    Stink bugs are also feeding on pecans at this time. These insects also puncture pecan nuts and are currently causing nut drop. With significant nut feeding injury from both weevil and stink bug, we decided to spray our pecan grove (photo at right).
   We starting spraying the grove on Wednesday August 14 and finished up on Friday. We used Warrior II to control weevil and stink bug then added a fungicide (Stratego) to fight scab. We added the scab spray because most pecans are still expanding (a time when nuts are susceptible to scab infection) and recent rains and saturated soils have brought us lots of disease enhancing humidity.
   If pecan weevils continue to emerge over the next 2 weeks, we will need a second insecticide treatment when nuts enter the dough stage of kernel development.