TOTI Conservancy released some 4,000 weevils into the Little Amanzimtoti River on Monday, 12 March.
These little critters are capable of controlling the water lettuce ‘invasion’ which threatens the local river.
“After the last release of 4,000 we experienced three rainstorms of over 35mm, and it appears those weevils were flushed out to sea as we cannot find any trace of them,” explained Angus Pyke.
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He then went on to relay information that an electrical engineer had supplied him with about the weevils. “The weevils look like the ones you find in your mielie pap if you have left it for too long, smaller than a matchstick-head,” he said.
“The adults eat small holes in the lettuce leaf but don’t significantly damage the plants. They then lay an egg into the stem of the plant and the larvae eat the central portion which sees the plant die off.”
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The weevils are supplied in tubs of 100 of the little fellows and the conservationists paddle up the river to distribute them onto the floating beds of Pistia. The spore of the lettuce can last for up to nine years on a river or pond bed, so the long-term prospects of having a river free of these alien plants is remote.
“Judging by the regrowth of the Pistia, the devastating floods we experienced on the Little Toti River last year doesn’t appear to have had much impact in reducing the number of small plants, especially in the area above the main road near the old quarry,” said Pyke.
The Toti Conservancy remains hopeful that one of the local educational institutions will take interest in the topic and use this as an opportunity for a research project.
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