The fight against brown skunk continues in Ordu: 40 thousand points were sprayed – Last Minute Türkiye News

The brown skunk, which causes serious damage to agricultural products, especially hazelnuts, and does not pose a danger to human health, prefers sheltered areas such as homes and warehouses to overwinter at the end of the summer season.

The brown skunk, which is frequently encountered by producers during the hazelnut harvest season, has a lifespan of one year and is combated agriculturally and mechanically with traps, can multiply by an average of 200 times with the eggs it lays.

Ordu Provincial Agriculture and Forestry Director Kemal Yılmaz said that they carried out studies before the brown skunk started to be seen in the province. Yılmaz noted that more than 600 trainings have been given throughout the province so far on control and recognition of pests. “With the cooling of the weather, brown skunks retreated to areas such as woodsheds, greenhouses and warehouses, which we call wintering. We had started a pesticide control campaign in these areas, just at the stage of entering the winter quarters. In this context, we carried out pesticide control in 40 thousand winter shelters. Our aim is to continue these struggle efforts in winter shelters intensively. “We want to destroy the skunks to a large extent before they spread from winter shelters to the field.” he said.

“WE NEED TO FIGHT Skunks BEFORE THEY SPREAD INTO GARDENS”

Pointing out that the fight against the brown skunk is important in the period we are in, Yılmaz said, “In the current period, we need to fight against the skunk by using both mechanical and licensed chemical drugs before the skunks spread to hazelnut orchards. Otherwise, we can guess how difficult the fight will be when we consider that a female adult skunk pest lays between 150-200 eggs, that is, so many individuals are formed. “Let’s not give this an opportunity, let’s destroy the skunks that are currently leaving their winter shelters, so that our fight against them will be easier in the coming period.”

“LICENSED DRUGS WILL PROVIDE ADVANTAGES IN THE FIGHT”

Yılmaz noted that the use of pheromone traps to be used in the fight against brown skunk will be effective at entering and exiting winter quarters.

However, Yılmaz stated that drugs that can be used in closed areas are licensed. “There are licensed drugs permitted by our ministry that can be used outdoors in hazelnut and kiwi gardens. Therefore, using them in the fight will give us a significant advantage.” he said.

“PRODUCTION OF SAMURAI BEES WILL BE INCREASED DURING THE STRUGGLE”

Provincial Director of Agriculture and Forestry, Kemal Yılmaz, said:

“Biological studies are also continuing in the fight against it. Our Ministry had previously assigned our Agricultural Research Institute to produce the samurai bees used in this biological control. Currently, in addition to this institute, our ministry has assigned some of our institutes, including the hazelnut research institute, to the production of samurai bees, and they have started their work.

Here, we collect adult brown skunks and send them to these institutes, where bees to be used in biological control against skunks are produced by producing samurai bees.”