Sweet Weevil Treatment

This treatment is one of several devised by the farmers of Brightfield in an effort to stave off the dreaded pumpkin rot threatening their crops.

Funky Little Bugs

While investigating pumpkin rot, an observation was made that certain insects were most attracted to pumpkin specimens that later proved to show signs of the blight. With this little note on the record, farmers began capturing a particular bug that might serve the purpose of identifying problem crops before they spread their affliction: the sweet weevil.

Little Sweeties

Though these weevils are typically known by another, less cutesy name (something like lesser ground weevil, or something), the so-named sweet weevil is a common species farmers often see wandering in the dirt between their pumpkin vines. These critters are scooped up and deposited in greenhouses designed to host pumpkin crops throughout the region, and the little creatures are observed in their travel and feeding habits.   Pumpkin plants found to attract the most weevils are gently harvested before their time and discarded, or are relocated to be grown in isolation to verify the prophetic assertion this method of treatment relies on.

Mixed Success

Though the weevils do predict, rather accurately, which pumpkins are doomed to rot — the isolated pumpkins almost always succumb to the condition before too long — the drawback to this method is that they simply don't predict enough of them. They indicate rotting crops accurately, but many others continue to rot in the field because of how long it takes to observe and confirm their gatherings.   Farmers continue to employ these sweet-tracking bugs to assist their process due to their very narrow margin of error, but they continue to recognize that better solutions need to be found in order to truly protect their crop yields from the blight that is threatening them.