What did the boll weevil do for Enterprise Alabama?
Well, that’s exactly what the people of Enterprise, Alabama, did on December 11, 1919, when they built a monument to the boll weevil, a tiny insect pest that devastated their cotton fields and forced farmers to pursue mixed farming and manufacturing.
How did Alabama solve its boll weevil problem?
Farmers tried everything to get rid of the weevils: they planted early-maturing varieties of cotton in hopes that they could increase yields before the weevils got to them, experimented with arsenic sprays and powders, and burned their cotton stalks after harvesting.
Where is monument to the boll weevil?
Enterprise, Alabama
The Boll Weevil Monument in downtown Enterprise, Alabama, United States is a prominent landmark and tribute erected by the citizens of Enterprise in 1919 to show their appreciation to an insect, the boll weevil, for its profound influence on the area’s agriculture and economy.
How many boll weevil statues are in Enterprise Alabama?
four
The city unveiled four new boll weevil statues at The Enterprise Civic Center Thursday night.
How did farmers get rid of the boll weevil?
First, fields would be sprayed with a pesticide, most often malathion, to control the pest. Then, insecticide-laden traps baited with the pheromone, or scent, that boll weevils give off when they want to mate would be laid in fields. The smell lured the bugs to their deaths.
How does the boll weevil destroy the cotton plant?
Boll weevils can completely destroy a cotton crop. Boll weevils eat all the buds off the plants; they destroy any cotton that the plants manage to produce by eating and laying eggs in the cotton.
How do I get rid of boll weevils?
For Boll Weevil invasions in homes, a simple vacuuming clean up and laying traps should eliminate the invaders. Malathion 57% is an organophosphate insecticide that can be applied to crops and non-crop plants to kill a wide variety of insects, including Boll Weevils.
How does boll weevil destroy the cotton plant?
What happened to the boll weevil?
Problems with funding, grower support in new eradication areas, and outbreaks of other pests, resulting from intensive insecticide applications used in eradication efforts – which obliterated beneficial insects that normally kept pests in check – slowed the process However, by 2009, the boll weevil was declared …
What crop is affected by boll weevil destroy?
cotton fields
The destruction of cotton fields by the boll weevil spread from Texas across the South and Southwest so that by the Great Depression, cotton farmers had already suffered from many years of devastatingly poor harvests.