By Baron Sekiya | Hawaii 24/7
Scanning electron micrograph of a coffee berry borer. Image by Eric Erbe, USDA Agricultural Research Service, Bugwood.org
State officials received confirmation on the presence of the Coffee Berry Borer (CBB) this past week and have been working to come up with a solution to battle this pest. The insect is threatening the Kona Coffee industry and coffee plants throughout the state should it spread beyond the Big Island.
The state Department of Agriculture is investigating how widespread the CBB is on the Big Island and have not had any reports of it being found on other islands. Big Island coffee farms face the task of pest control along with the threat of a quarantine of coffee plants.
Officials from the State of Hawaii Department of Agriculture along with the UH College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources held a public meeting Monday (Sept 13) to address this issue.
The meeting explained what the Coffee Berry Borer is and what the farmers can do to control the pest.
Coffee Berry Borer info page here
Illustration courtesy of the USDA
Below is an updated handout (9/20/10) from the meeting on controlling the CBB by Elsie Burbano of CTAHR.
* NOTE: THE HANDOUT INFORMATION HAS BEEN REMOVED AT THE REQUEST OF ELSIE BURBANO OF CTAHR. UPDATED INFORMATION SPECIFIC TO HAWAII WILL BE RELEASED AND POSTED HERE. MAHALO FOR YOUR PATIENCE. *
Photo 1. Broca trap.
Photo 2. Coffee berry borers infected with the fungal entomopathogen Beauveria bassiana. Credits: Left, A. Ramírez, Puerto Rico Department of Agriculture; Right, F. Posada (Vega et al. 2009).
Photo 3. Coffee Berry Borer entering the fruit.
Borrrrring! Get it, bore-ing? LOL!!!!!!!!
How do you make a CBB trap? What is the design and what is it baited with?
as you can see it is made up of 2L empty bottle of soft drink, just cut 4″X4″ from it side and put a methyl: ethyl ratio of 1:3 in a vail and hang the vail inside the plastic container. put soapy water or cooking oil inside the bottle and thats it… killing time:)