Black Cutworms Cutting Plants
We are above the 300 degree days needed to get the larvae from the first major flight that on April 27 to a stage where they will cut plants. I received my first report of a corn field over threshold and sprayed over the weekend. Now is the time to be out there looking for missing, wilting and cut plants! Fields are not safe from cutting until they reach the V6 stage (6 leaf collars showing). Plant stems will be too big to chew through and they will burrow up inside the stem.
Black cutworm moth catches slowed down a little this week. Armyworm catches continue to be low but it doesn’t mean that there aren’t some hot spots out there. We have not had any reports of armyworm injury yet. Corn that was planted green into a cover crop needs to be scouted. Winter wheat, barley, rye and grass hay fields should also be watched carefully. Look for signs of blackbirds flying into winter grain fields and sitting in surrounding trees and on power lines along the field. Guaranteed they are diving in there to feed on armyworms!
- Plant cutting around 300 Degree Days
- Degree Day data from Network for Environment and Weather Applications, NEWA & CLIMOD 2
Much of the Winter Wheat is Flowering this Week
I know there was a lot of wheat fields sprayed with a fungicide over Memorial Day weekend as wheat started to flower. If you are unsure about what wheat flowering looks like, we have a short video available on our YouTube page.
Many fields will continue to flower all week. There is an application window of approximately 7 days from the beginning of flowering in
which reasonable Fusarium head blight (FHB) suppression can be expected. The Fusarium Risk Assessment Tool showed our region at high risk of infection over the long weekend. It has calmed down a little this week but much of area is still at a medium risk for infection (see map from website).
Now is a great time to determine if Cereal Leaf Beetle are present in economic numbers. You can tank mix an insecticide with your fungicide and save the cost of an extra pass.
