Many species of cutworms feed on corn and soybean if it’s available.
Christian Krupke
Black cutworm moth catches in many of our cooperator’s pheromone traps continue to be quite impressive (see “Black Cutworm Adult Pheromone Trap Report”).
Many black cutworm trappers have captured large numbers of moths, see “Black Cutworm Pheromone Trap Report.” In trying to find levity during the Covid-19 pandemic, there have been various quips during their reports about this pest’s lack of adherence to our social distancing guidelines!
As we close out a difficult 2019 growing season, growers turn their attention to seed orders for 2020.
For the last couple of years, especially last season, there has been a noticeable population of green stink bug in some Indiana soybean fields.
The painted lady butterfly, Vanessa cardui, is mostly orange mottled with black and white markings.
Recently there have been numerous reports of swarms of “bee-like” flies around Indiana fields, farmsteads, and rural environments, and wanted to take the opportunity to tell you a bit about this curiosity. Adult hover flies (aka syrphid flies) can sometimes be mistaken for bees or wasps, because they look a lot like them! Some people refer to hover flies as “corn flies” or “sweat bees,” but these insects are actually quite different from bees. Hover flies belong to the Order Diptera, or the true flies. The most noticeable group at this time of year belong to the genus Toxomerus, which feed on pollen. There are many other syrphid flies present throughout the season that are beneficial, as their larvae feed on soft-bodied insects like aphids. Compared to sweat bees, hover flies have black and yellow markings, are able to fly in place yet dart away quickly, have a[Read More…]
Dr. Jocelyn Smith and Art Schaafsma at the Ridgetown campus of the University of Guelph recently reported a new and unexpected development in the resistance to Bt saga – this time it happened all the way out in the Maritime Corn Belt (MCB), in Nova Scotia, a province in Eastern Canada.
Combines are rolling and wagons of grain are heading for dryers and storage. Already, questions have been received about soybean seed observed to be shrunken and/or discolored.
For reasons that are unclear – but likely related to two seasons of increased monitoring and spraying – the western bean cutworm damage is far lower than the past two seasons.
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