Working at the Air Potato Biological Control Program in Gainesville is a lot of fun! Many of you know what the beetles look like, and maybe you ordered and released them in the past, but do you know who actually gets to raise them for you?? Today they had a contest to see who could catch the most air potato beetles. They all used their favorite beetle catching method- who do you think won? Hint: between all 3 of them they caught 585 beetles. Post who you think caught the most (Smith, Elise or Cassie) and how many they caught in the comments below! At noon on Tuesday July 2 we will look at all the entries and the two (2) entries that come the closest will each win an official Air Potato Patrol t-shirt! (So you need to tell us who you think won and how many beetles that person caught).
The contestants: On the left we have ‘Sneak-up-on-them-Smith’. In the center there’s ‘Sharp-shooting-Elise’ with her beetle-holding holsters. On the right there’s ‘Bass-shaking-Cassie’ who likes to shake the vines to drop the beets!!
Cassie at 237
‘Bass shaking-Cassie ‘ with 261
Cassie 201
Cassie 350
Cassie 301 beets
Elise…275
Elise – 220
But I’ll take all 585 beetles!
Elise – 250
Cassie with 295.
I’m guessing that Cassie won the coveted Crown of Potato Vine with 391 beetles caught.
Smith with 250!!
elise 272
Elise with 293
CASSIE WITH 200
Cassie 223
Elsie 218
I’ll bet on Smith, because he’s tall, and I hope he found 321 beetles
elise, 235
I know it’s Elise!! And she caught 313 beetles. Right?
Elise is the winner with a total catch of 248, maybe!
Sharp Shooting Elise with 283 Beetles caught! Fun contest — so glad you do what you do and that you all enjoy your work!
Thanks Virginia- we all enjoy it and I couldn’t run the Air Potato Patrol without Elise’s help!
Elsie 275
Cassie with 203
Elise caught 296 beetles. Have to support someone with the same name!
Elise! With 287…
Smith – 237
Smith sneaked 209 beetles for the win.
Cassie @ 250 beetles
Smith @ 299 beetles
Smith – 215 – stealth mode!
The contest is now officially closed- we will look over all of the entries from Facebook and from the Air Potato Patrol blog page, figure out who the winners are, contact them directly and then share the results with everyone tomorrow!
We have the results from our most recent contest from Elise Schuchman at the Gainesville facility:
Sharp-shooting-Elise: 294 air potato beetles
Beet-Shaking-Cassie: 158 air potato beetles
Sneak-up-on-‘em-Smith: 133 air potato beetles
For a grand total of 585 air potato beetles! Most of these beetles were sent to the Pinellas County Parks system- they were released at Boca Ciega Millennium Park, McKay Creek Greenway, Joe’s Creek Management Area, and Mariner’s Pint Management Area.
Both winners were from this group- Nancy guessed 293 by Elise (only off by 1!) and Elise Zarli said 296 (off by only 2). Congratulations and we will be sending you each an official Air Potato Patrol t-shirt very soon. Watch for more contests, let us know how the air potato vine control is coming along and feel free to contact us with any questions you might have.