 North Carolina is the highest producer of sweetpotatoes in the United States. Much of this high production capability is due to the absence of the sweetpotato weevil from production areas.
In 2004, the NCDA&CS conducted a statewide comprehensive sweetpotato weevil trapping survey on all commercially grown sweetpotato fields. The traps utilized in the survey were boll weevil traps containing the female sweetpotato weevil's sex pheromone. Traps were set at a rate of 1 trap per 10 acres, with a minimum of 2 traps per field. A total of 37 counties were included in the survey. The survey area consisted of 4,954 fields, 10,438 traps, and 44,437.3 acres. No sweetpotato weevils were detected during the 2004 growing season.
A small reproducing population of sweetpotato weevils does exist in an isolated, offshore area of southeastern North Carolina. In this reproducing area, the production of sweetpotatoes is not allowed. |