Learn About Whitehall Bio Control: 8/14/2024

This year the Whitehall Project consisted of four WHS students, an MCC AmeriCorps volunteer, and the project coordinator Todd Breitenfeldt. This week, all the high school students are finished working for the program, they are off to the fair, sports, and then back to school. They are Lexi Stratton, Kaylee Klapan, Izaya Howlett, and Austin Bonnet. Our intrepid MCC AmeriCorps volunteer Ava Franz is heading back to college in Washington State.  

The Whitehall Biological Weed Control Project started in 1993. The focus of the project is education about noxious weeds and Integrated Weed Management (IWM). Some of the many activities that the crew participates in are: mass rearing biocontrol insects and mites in the insectary at Whitehall High School, monitor landowners' weeds and insect release sites, educate landowners about IWM, collect insects at sites throughout the state, and redistribute these bioagents to those who request them at no cost. 

In this summer of 2024, the Project collected and redistributed:

• 55,500 leafy spurge-munching flea beetles

• 4,500 Dalmation toadflax stem-mining weevils

• 100 yellow toadflax stem-mining weevils

• fifty-three galls (a gall is cluster of damaged, swollen whitetop flowers)

• 5,400 spotted knapweed-slaying root-boring weevils.

We are still collecting a few spotted knapweed root-boring weevils, so if you would like a release, call project coordinator Todd: 406-498-5236 during normal business hours please. We may have some available.

Our educational activities include monitoring and releasing bioagents on landowners properties after educating them, participating in Pull Your Share program near Augusta, participating in the 6th grade Jefferson Valley Conservation District field days, utilizing FWP AmeriCorps weed management at the Lewis and Clark Caverns State Park, educating teenage children of active duty military, educating the Indreland Wetlands Busy Beaver volunteers and the Nation Center for Appropriate Technology Small-Scale Intensive Farm Training program (NCAT SIFT), as well as the FWP employees and volunteers from the Missouri Headwaters State Park and the Bozeman Garden Club.

Lastly, Todd will be featured on Montana Ag Live Sunday September 8th on PBS. 

The adult knapweed root boring weevils have chewed their way out of the knapweed tap roots by now. This allows soil fungi and bacteria into the roots so you often see the larger knapweed plants starting to die in August and September. We suggest you monitor to see if you already have the weevil. You can do this by pulling up a few of the larger plants (wear gloves!) and tearing or cutting the tap root lengthwise. Normally the inside of knapweed roots are white-ish in color. If you see black or brown feeding damage and tunnels you probably have the weevils already knocking back your knapweed infestation! Stick with your weed plan and knock back knapweed!