rusty grain beatle

[brian99]

I have rusty grain beetle in the hard wheat bins, first time in 20 years. Had it treated with phostoxin, but with the recent cold snap, not all the little critters died. I guess some of 'em lived in the cold areas near the walls. Now the grain temp is too cold. I know malathion wont work, it needs to be hotter, and protect it wont work because the bugs aren't moving. I guess 95% of bins in our area (S.AB) have bugs. The great harvest weather did us in! Grain went into the bin too hot. Any thoughts out there? Would a grain vac kill em? and at what temp?

[wmoebis]

Hey Brian
I can sympathize with you. I am from south central Sask and had bugs.I moved with grain vac into a bin that had been treated with liquid Mal. and I treated with powder Mal. Still had them.Moved grain and treated with phox. Still had them, moved again and treated with phox. still had them I finally moved grain when it was real cold and put in air bin froze grain and those little red bug(gers).
The CGC has chart on their web page telling how cold for how long to kill bugs.
Mine I did in small bin with air when real cold and got them good. However not before it had heated to some degree. Thank goodness the feed prices are so high.
Good Luck

[Muttley]

A grain vac will work on bugs but not 100% of the time. Depending upon how bad your infestation is.

For the most effect with a grain vac there is a few things to do. Use as much intake hose that is reasonable for capacity. The higher the boom the more dust and bugs blow away. Vacs with a dust removal system also work well as they will trap the bugs in the lighter dust before it goes into the grain stream to truck. Older slower vacs tend to do not as good a job as the bigger ones.

You need to watch just blowing cold air in a bin as sometimes this makes the bugs inactive and have the appearance as being dead but will become active as the temperature goes up.

I have had vac customers tell me they have had great success getting rid of bugs with a vac but I always say do not depend upon it because each year and bin is different. Also make sure your truck is clean between loads especially if your using a custom trucker as the last load may have been infected and not cleaned out properly.

[jtomas]

The best and safest way to treat these little buggars is to use Insecto in the fall. Treat empty bin with aireation if possible, if not put icecream pail in first load then last load into bin and top dress. This is very inexpensive and works great.Bugs have to enter through treated area and will be in contact with Insecto thus causing them to dehydrate. Ask dealer for Insecto.

[brian99]

Thanks for your help. Server has been down, or I would have responded earlier. Phostoxin has knocked em down, but not totally, so numbers are low for now. Would it work if I used an aeration bin (full round tubing)and a very small rectangular gas heater we have for drying and made a tray for the pellets,put them in and then ran the heater wiath air till the pellets were gone, plus a little to move the gas to the top? Today it was above zero, the right kind of day to do it. One bin at a time of course, but something is better than nothing. Or just use the grain vac on a cold day? With the wheat calls so thin here, I dont want to be hauling wheat back home brcause it didnt work. Thanks again.