The Aphid Crisis in the Puyallup Valley
Hop growers grapple with an infestation of lice that threatens the regional crop, revealing the precarious nature of early Washington agriculture.
On Thursday C. W. Stewart said the fly was increasing fast, as that day he had visited ten yards and found the fly present in all, and that he should begin to spray the next day. The hop crop prospects are not a good one, being backward, which is attributable to the cool, rainy season. In the Meeker yards the hops are doing fine, but lice are to be found in every yard. They are not generally distributed, but found in spots. The fly is at work on the new leaf. Spraying is going on in many yards and will become general next week. Forty-four lice were counted on one leaf, but this was an isolated case.
“Forty-four lice were counted on one leaf, but this was an isolated case.”
Puyallup's hop industry was a massive economic engine in the 1890s. This report highlights the intense, hands-on labor and the constant threat of biological disaster that defined early Washington's reliance on singular export crops.
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