Unspoken Truths

Unspoken Truths About Pests: Corn Rootworm

Thu, 20 Jun 2024 04:27:01 GMT

Corn rootworms can pack a one-two punch. The larvae can burrow in soil and feed on unsuspecting corn roots, or the adult beetles can snip silks and upend pollination. Both infiltrations result in lower yields.

Two types of corn rootworms wreck the most havoc in the Midwest: northern corn rootworm and western corn rootworm, says Nick Seiter, University of Illinois Extension field crops entomologist.

“The western corn rootworm was dominant for many years in Illinois, but in recent years the northern corn rootworm has crept back up in population,” he says.

RESISTANCE ISSUES

One of the reasons rootworm pressures are increasing, after several years of low numbers, is resistance or partial resistance is common to the Cry3 proteins (Cry3Bb1, mCry3A and eCry3.1Ab), Seiter says. Reduced corn rootworm susceptibility, he adds, also exists to Cry34/35Ab1, but that problem is not as widespread.

Corn rootworms most often show up in cases of continuous corn, late-maturing hybrids, delayed and/or replanted fields, weedy fields and soybeans with significant volunteer corn, says Erin Hodgson, Iowa State University Extension entomologist.

In years with adequate moisture, you likely won’t see the above-ground signs of the root-clipping larvae.

“You probably won’t see any lodged corn, and you probably will see ears that are filled out pretty good,” she adds. “You often won’t see signs of increasing injury and declining yield until the end of the season.”

Farmers need to dig up corn plants and evaluate root nodes for damage. “Root nodes contribute to nutrient and water uptake; when nodes are pruned, plant vigor is compromised and yields drop,” Hodgson says.

When evaluating rootworm damage, measure how much of the root mass has been pruned to within 1.5" of the base of the root, Seiter says.

“We rate the interior three nodes of roots for rootworm damage,” he says. “For example, one entire node of roots pruned away would be a root damage rating of 1, three entire nodes pruned would be 3, a quarter of one node pruned would be a 0.25.”

This rating system allows you to quantify and compare rootworm damage among fields.

A rating of 0.5 (one half of one node pruned) is considered unexpected damage to a pyramided Bt corn plant, and could be evidence of resistance, Seiter says.

Severe pruning of a single root node contributes to 15% yield loss, Hodgson adds.

ADAPTABLE AND DEADLY

The life cycle for northern corn rootworm and western corn rootworm typically consists of one generation per year, with females laying eggs in cornfields to overwinter and hatch the following year.

However, some of these adaptable pests might wait and hatch in year two, year three or year four, Seiter says.

“Those that hatch in year two are likely to hatch into corn and start the cycle again,” he says.

Regardless, Seiter says, crop rotation is a strong management tool. Soil insecticides are also effective. The key is regular monitoring of your rootworm population.

Fast Facts About Corn Rootworm

Northern Corn Rootworm:

Tan to pale green color.
About ¼" long.

Western Corn Rootworm:

Yellow to green color.
Black stripe along the sides of their wing covers.
About 5/16" long.

Southern Corn Rootworm:

Yellow to green color.
11 black spots.
About 3/8" long.
Also known as the spotted cucumber beetle.

Both the western and northern corn rootworms cause damage to corn as larvae and adults.

Read more from this series, which shares insights on how to control pest problems .

Unspoken Truths About Pests: Stinkbugs

Fri, 16 Dec 2022 15:52:58 GMT

Stink bugs are best known for their stench when squashed. However, the insect is gaining more notoriety in the Midwest for another reason — their love of soybeans.

The insect has been in the Midwest for years but became more prevalent with the invasive brown marmorated species, says Andy Michel, entomology professor at Ohio State University (OSU). The bug sounded alarms when it began feeding on a row crop.

“Stink bugs love soybeans,” he says. “They use their piercing, sucking mouthparts to go straight for the pod of a developing seed. Imagine a straw sucking water from a glass.”

The result, according to Michel, can trick some producers into thinking their fields are not infected.

“Sometimes you have a shriveled, wrinkled seed. Other times, it’s a discolored seed,” he says. “We’ve also seen pictures from a grower who had no idea there was any damage because the pod retained its shape as if a full seed was in there. Then you open the pod to find it’s all gone.”

Why Soybeans?

While stink bugs are small, their mouthparts are mighty. According to Michel, there have been accounts in Ohio of 10% to 20% yield loss in a single field bordering a forest — stink bugs’ preferred breeding ground.

Though OSU cannot yet prove why stink bugs prefer soybeans over corn, Michel does have a hypothesis that connects bug hatching seasons to soybean’s early reproductive stages in July, when pods are bright green and more of an “attractive” food source.

Stop the Stink (Bug)

If a grower suspects a stink bug infestation, a quick net pass will provide economic threshold feedback.

“Using sweep nets, do a set of 10 sweeps. If you find four or more stink bugs — doesn’t matter the species or life stage — that’s your economic threshold,” Michel says.

Before spraying, create a plan. Most stink bugs prefer the outer rows along tree lines, but they can make their way to the interior of the field. With this in mind, Michel suggests:

1. A thorough scan of the field.

2. Mulling over sprayer boom options.

“I know of growers who used a 50' boom to spray just the edges, and that really helped,” he says. “You might fight the bordering tree branches, but, with rising input costs, it’s better than spraying the entire field.”

The Good Stink

A fun fact, Michel says, is not all stink bugs are foes. “The spined soldier and two-spotted stink bugs are predators,” he says. “They will feed on pest stink bugs, caterpillars and other kinds of larvae in soybeans.”

The predative stink bugs’ role in biological control and overall help in the field make them worthy of celebrity status, according to Michel.

“When scouting for any invasive insect, it’s critical to know what you’re actually looking for,” he says. “As it turns out, these are the ‘good’ stink bugs worth knowing.”

More on pests :

Unspoken Truth About Pests: Why Planting Dates Play a Critical Role in Battling Pests Right Now
Unspoken Truths About Pests: Soybean Aphids
Unspoken Truths About Pests: Wireworms

Unspoken Truths About Pests: Deer Damage in Crop Fields

Tue, 15 Nov 2022 16:35:37 GMT

Prevent your fields from becoming a wildlife food plot

Deer can be both majestic and maddening — depending on which side of the fence you find them. They make for an exciting pursuit during hunting season, but they also can wreak havoc in your fields.

In crop fields, deer can graze, trample and bed. Depending on your crop’s stage, this can have economic consequences.

“Deer will feed on immature corn tassel tissue in the whorl during mid- to late-June and also on developing ears in early- to mid-August at the milk stage,” says Bob Nieslen, Purdue University Extension corn specialist. “The decapitated plants usually survive, and ear development will continue through pollination and on to maturity, though the ears are usually less than full size.”

The bigger issues tend to happen in seed corn production fields, says Eric Anderson, Michigan State University Extension field crops educator.

“They have an affinity for certain hybrids,” he says. “They can take out significant portions of male rows, which is obviously problematic for seed production.”

In soybeans, deer forage on young plants. They tend to feed closer to tree lines, Anderson says, often returning to the same area to graze.

“This is not usually problematic in soybeans, unless they mow down a large patch,” he says. “If there’s enough time between deer feedings, the plants can compensate and bush back out. So you don’t end up with dead patches, just stunted plant growth in an area.”

HOW TO CONTROL

If deer cause major yield damage in your fields, you’ll want to take an integrated pest management approach to controlling them and preventing damage, says Robert Pierce, University of Missouri Extension wildlife specialist. This could include, one or more of the following strategies:

Population Management: “Hunting provides the most efficient and often the only type of population management,” Pierce says. “If you’re not a hunter, recruit some. Be sure to contact your state Department of Natural Resources or Department of Conservation for information on hunting regulations and seasons. Work with neighbors to encourage them to allow hunting, as deer damage often affects several farms in a community.”

Fencing: If you are protecting high-value crops, fencing may be the best, albeit expensive, solution, Anderson says. Options include electric fences, high-tensile wire or mesh fences.

Vegetation Management: “To reduce damage to crops, leave as much open area as possible between field edges and planted material,” Pierce says. “Clear underbrush from field edges to a width of about 60" to reduce cover for deer. Mow this area several times a year. You can also implement a forest management plan for nearby woods to promote a source of young, succulent plants, which are preferred deer foods.”

Repellents: You can find a suite of products to repel deer, Anderson says. They can be liquids or powders and vary in cost and effectiveness. “Be aware many of these are short-lived solutions since they can wash off in the rain,” he says.

Did You Know?

The U.S. is home to 25 million whitetail deer.
Grown deer can eat around 2,000 lb. of plant matter annually.
Deer damage in crop fields is typically limited to the outer rows around the field edges.
In the wild, their average lifespan is 4.5 years.
An average buck weight is 150 lb. to 300 lb., while does tend to weigh 88 lb. to 198 lb.
Deer communicate through scent, sound, body language and marking.

Sara Schafer uses her Missouri farm roots to cover crop management, business topics, farmland and more.

Stalk Rots: Be on the Lookout for This Yield Robber at Harvest

Wed, 05 Oct 2022 21:56:36 GMT

Sneaky and quiet, stalk rots can take a big bite out of corn yields. They can go undetected until harvest, and then steal a field’s yield. If it’s a severe attack, rots can rob up to 25% of yield.

“Stalk rots in corn are very difficult to manage, but they are probably our most frequent issue we have in corn pro-duction,” says Nathan Kleczewski, plant disease and insect specialist with Growmark and former University of Illinois Extension field crop plant pathologist.
Yield losses from stalk rots occur because the plant dies a premature death, which equals poor ear fill. Or the dis-eases create harvest losses because stalks break or lodge.

Several types of stalk rots can creep into your fields (see sidebar). Each are caused by a specific type of fungi or bacteria. Stalk rots severity are mostly determined by the level of stress the plant was facing at infection.

High planting density, cloudy weather after pollination and droughty conditions after silking can increase the dis-ease’s impact, Kleczewski says.

SCOUT FOR ROT

After grain fill, start scouting for stalk issues, Kleczewski recommends. Survey at least one site in the field for eve-ry 10 to 20 acres. You can use either of these scouting methods:

Pinch Test: Pinch the stalk at one of the lowest two internodes. If your thumb pressure causes the stalk to collapse, it fails the test.
Push Test: Push the stalk to a 30-degree angle (8" to 10" from shoulder height), and if the stalk does not spring back into position, it fails the test.

If you suspect infection, pull plants and split open the stems, adds Connie Tande, South Dakota State University Ex-tension plant diagnostician.

“Look for any weird discoloration, such as pink or white mold,” she says.

If fields have more than 10% to 15% stalks rotted, issues with lodging may occur, Kleczewski says. Prioritize those fields for early harvest.
While stalk rots cannot be prevented, an integrated management approach can reduce their severity.

“The goal is to minimize stress,” Kleczewski says. “Avoid excessive plant populations, which creates water and nu-trient stress. Take a balanced approach to nutrients. Crop rotation can help. Also, use tillage to reduce residue on field surface.”

Above all, Tande adds, focus on hybrid selection. Consult your agronomist or seed dealer to guide you on choos-ing the varieties with the best defenses against stalk rot.

Common Types of Stalk Rots

	Anthracnose: Shiny black lesions on stalk with black fungal material just beneath the surface.
	Gibberella: Small round, blackish specks on surface of stalk rind and pinkish-red discoloration inside the stalk.
	Fusarium: White fungal growth on the outside of the stalk with pink or salmon color on interior stalks, feels spongy when performing squeeze test.
	Diplodia: Black fungal structures visible around the outside of stalk nodes and a dry, shredded pith.

Understand Your Risk for Stalk Rot

As you scout your corn, use this scorecard as a guide to assess the likelihood your fields will suffer from stalk rot. Infection can occur at any point of the growing season, reminds Growmark’s Nathan Kleczewski, which makes it difficult to manage.

Factor	Score
Does the field have a history of stalk rot issues?	Yes = 3 points
Was the field planted back-to-back in corn?	Yes = 2 points
What is your planting population versus the recommended level?	Low = 1 point Average = 2 points High = 3 points
Does your hybrid have solid “stay green” characteristics?	Average = 2 points Excellent = 1 point Poor = 3 points
Did you have severe foliar disease at R5?	<10% severity = 1 point >10% severity = 3 points

Low risk: 3 to 6 points
Medium risk: 7 to 10 points
High risk: 10+ points

Source: Nathan Kleczewski

Sara Schafer uses her Missouri farm roots to cover crop management, business topics, farmland and more.

Unspoken Truths About Pests: Japanese Beetles

Tue, 13 Sep 2022 15:56:08 GMT

These pests have colossal appetites but don’t tend to pack an economic punch

Social, mobile and voracious, Japanese beetles can crowd into your corn or soybean fields for a two-month party. Their damage is often just cosmetic, but it’s important to understand the timing of when they choose to defoliate soybeans or clip corn silks.

SMALL BUG, BIG BUFFET

Japanese beetle adults are ½" in length and metallic green in color with bronze- or copper-colored wing covers. If you look closely, you’ll see 12 white tufts of hair or bristles on the edge of their shells (five on each side and two on the back end).

“Adult Japanese beetles have an unusually broad host range; they will feed on over 300 plant species,” says Kelley Tilmon, Ohio State University Extension entomologist. “When they first reach an area, they are usually noticed in horticultural and garden settings long before they become agricultural pests.”

Japanese beetles have a one-year life cycle. The larva overwinters deep in the soil and completes its growth the next spring. The adult emerges from the ground in midsummer and can be found in late June through September.

“The adults generally live 60 days during the summer,” says Ashley Dean, Iowa State University Extension specialist for field crop entomology. “They alternate between feeding, mating and laying eggs during those 60 days.”

CLIPPED SILKS, LACY LEAVES

In corn, Japanese beetles clip off silks, but as long as they don’t infest before pollination, they tend to not cause economic damage, Dean says.

For soybeans, adult Japanese beetles feed on the leaves, leaving a lacy appearance. The feeding damage often looks worse than it really is because it is concentrated in the top of the plant, Tilmon says.

“That’s why you need to assess the plants as a whole and the field as a whole,” she says.

Once you assess defoliation, and if the beetles are still present, you can choose from several insecticide options for corn or soybeans. But in general,

Tilmon says, entomologists recommend a conservative approach to management.

Sara Schafer uses her Missouri farm roots to cover crop management, business topics, farmland and more.

Unspoken Truth about Pests: Undercover Voles

Fri, 02 Sep 2022 13:07:55 GMT

Farms using no-till or adding more cover crops risk inviting a voracious pest to the field. Voles, also known as meadow or field mice, can eat through stands in a hurry.

Indiana Farmer Aaron Krueger is going all in on cover crops but last year, that added cover along with a mild winter, provided ample opportunity for the small rodents to dig into his fields.

“After we had planted the beans, it became pretty evident as the beans were emerging, you could see the stems and cotyledons were basically just munched off,” Krueger says.

Typically, their farm will see a few spots the size of the car hood, last year they replanted entire fields.

“It was the worst I’ve seen it since I’ve been farming,” he says. “You know, we were cooler in the spring and the beans just weren’t growing as fast and at that stage, the voles could just go along the ground in munch them off pretty easily.”

Farm Journal Field agronomist Ken Ferrie says voles are common, especially as farms move away from heavy tillage.

“Once we moved to cover crops on top of our no-till, that’s when that problem can really explode,” he says.

Missing stands, holes and bare earth are the tell-tale signs the problem needs attention.

“What causes a vole outbreak is a habitat for them to hide under, so the predators can’t get to them — be it foxes, hawks or whatever can feed on them; that’s when the population explodes,” says Ferrie.

On average Voles live three to six months usually from March to October. Gestation is less than a month and females can have five to 10 litters per year. It’s not uncommon for just one vole to become 50 in no time.

Ferrie says his advice is to start clean. If there are voles in your no-till fields, he recommends getting them under control before moving to cover crops.

“That’s the time to react,” says Ferrie. “You can put some bait stations out there to try to slow them down. Once we get into cover crops, they can explode like rats in a granary and they’re hard to control. At that point, you can’t put enough bait stations out.”

Ferrie says if it gets out of hand, he’s seen farmers pull fields out of no-till and out of cover crops in order to catch up.

“There’s a lot of guys who did throw in the towel, especially after last year,” Krueger adds. “They went out there and ran inline rippers or vertical tillage tools.”

Ferrie says that can help, but Krueger is trying something different on his farm. He’s adding poles, perches and nesting boxes to fields in order to encourage more natural control.

“We just stuck a two-by-four across the top of these telephone poles and set them up 12’ to 15’ off the ground,” Krueger says. “We placed those strategically throughout the farm to help break up some of the distances between electric lines or tree lines just to better accommodate any birds of prey that might be flying around.”

Ferrie also says using strip tillage in combination with cover crops can help.

“That tends to maybe open it up a little bit more but we noticed the vole issues drop quite a bit with just the stripping in there,” says Ferrie.

While voles are notorious for fluctuating populations, peaking every two to five years, Krueger is focused on long-term soil health and searching for ways to keep these pests in check during the growing season.

RELATED LINKS:

Down the Vole Hole

Unspoken Truths About Pests: Southern Rust

Tue, 09 Aug 2022 13:47:15 GMT

Understand the conditions that make this disease endanger yield

Flying in on tropical storms, southern rust can steal yield and cause headaches for corn farmers. The nasty disease can attack quickly and do a lot of damage in a hurry, especially in warm and humid conditions.

AN AGGRESSIVE FUNGUS

“We have two rust diseases that can affect corn in the U.S.; they are common rust and southern rust,” says Tamra Jackson, University of Nebraska Extension plant pathologist. “Southern rust is caused by an aggressive fungus that causes much greater yield loss.”

Southern corn rust, caused by the fungus Puccinia polysora, creates round, light brown to orange spots scattered mainly on the upper leaf surface. They might also appear on husks, stalks, lower leaf surface and ear shanks. The disease is easily confused with common rust, which produces pustules (fuzzy, raised structures) on both sides of the leaf.

Warm temperatures (70° and above) during the day or at night favor southern rust development, Jackson says. It also needs high humidity, rainfall or irrigation to spread. Because it doesn’t overwinter on residue, it spreads with summer storms, moving from the south to the north.

Timely management is key for controlling the impact of southern rust, says Kiersten Wise, University of Kentucky Extension plant pathologist. The disease can build up in cornfields quickly with the right weather conditions.

“If it comes at the right time and we aren’t protecting our crop, it can do some really significant damage to yield,” she says.

Foliar fungicides can manage the disease, but timing is critical. Research shows fungicide applications need to go on crop from tas-seling through the milk stage (VT to R3), Wise says.

“If you have good yield potential, it’s likely worth a fungicide application to protect the crop,” she says.
Other management practices include planting resistant hybrids and avoiding late planting.

Fast Facts About Southern Rust

Southern rust spores can travel miles on air currents.
Once infected, symptoms can be observed within three to four days if the weather is favorable.
Within seven to 10 days, spores are produced and can travel to other plants.
Favorable southern rust conditions include hot temperatures and at least four hours of consecutive leaf wetness.
Research shows southern rust can continue even with temperatures around 110°F.

Sara Schafer uses her Missouri farm roots to cover innovative farm operations, crop management, business topics and more.

Unspoken Truths About Pests: Grasshoppers

Wed, 27 Jul 2022 21:32:21 GMT

Drought provides perfect environment for this destructive insect

Nearly 400 species of grasshoppers inhabit the 17 western states. They feed on grasses and weeds and often move to cultivated crops.

“Because grasshoppers move into cropland generally from untilled areas surrounding crop fields, scout and, if necessary, treat these adjacent untilled areas first,” says Bob Wright, University of Nebraska Extension entomologist.

In corn, grasshoppers feed from the outer edges of leaves inward. They can eat stalks and ears. They attack fresh silks, reducing pollination and often cause the ears to be blank or only partly filled.

Verify your grasshopper threat, Wright says, by using the square-foot method in field borders:

Randomly select an area several feet away and visualize a square-foot area for that spot.
Walk to this spot while watching this square-foot area and count the number of grasshoppers you see in or jumping out of this area.
Repeat this procedure 18 times and divide the total number of grasshoppers by two.
This will give you the number of grasshoppers per square yard.

To assess grasshopper densities within fields — where grasshopper density will be lower — use the same method except visualize and count the grasshoppers in a square-yard area. Average your 18 estimates to calculate the number of grasshoppers per square yard.

If you count more than 40 grasshoppers in field borders, you need to treat the pest, according to the University of Nebraska. Within fields, the threshold is 14 or more. Numerous insecticides are labeled and effective for grasshopper control on various crops.

Your goal, Wright says, is to control grasshoppers while they are concentrated in field borders and before they become adults and have fully developed wings. Be aware, grasshopper damage can occur anytime during the growing season.

Fast Facts About Grasshoppers

Nearly 400 species of grasshoppers inhabit the 17 western states.
Each species of grasshoppers produces their own unique sound and language.
Depending on the species, grasshopper eggs range from 4 mm to 9 mm long and may be white, yellow, olive, tan, brownish red or dark brown.
Adult grasshoppers live around 51 days.
Even light grasshopper infestations (around 7 per square yard) in a 10-acre hay field will eat as much hay as a cow; 17 hoppers per square yard in a 40-acre hay field will eat a ton of hay a day.

Sources: USDA, Field Guide to Common Western Grasshoppers, Purdue University

Learn more “Unspoken Truths About Pests”

Unspoken Truth About Pests: Why Planting Dates Play a Critical Role in Battling Pests Right Now

Mon, 25 Jul 2022 01:31:10 GMT

Matt Miles isn’t your average farmer. With farmland nestled in the southeast corner of Arkansas, the Mississippi Delta has forced Miles to think outside the box in order to grow.

“One thing we’ve learned on our operation is you have to have enough equipment to hit those planting windows in a short period of time, because it seems to me like the weather has changed over my farming career,” says Miles, whose home farm is located in McGehee, Ark.

He says what typically was a 30-day window to get the corn crop in is more like 10 or 20 days now.

“But we were able to hit those windows this year to get the crop in early and ended up with really good emergence,” Miles says.

What are some of the biggest “Unspoken Truth About Pests?

With changes to planting weather and conditions, it’s prompted Miles to become even more aggressive in the field. That’s why the Arkansas farmer isn’t afraid to push the production limits with ideas that at times, he admits, are crazy.

“We set aside a budget for research, so we can take that portion of the money and say, ‘Okay, let’s go chase something stupid,’” says Miles. “And, you know, maybe a blind hog finds an acorn every now and then.”

Having a portion of the budget dedicated to research is rare, but perhaps you have to be a little crazy to farm in an area that features extremely sandy soils and harsh conditions throughout the season. However, chasing “something stupid” has also turned into some production practices that have paid off for the Arkansas farm.

Planting Soybeans Early Pays Off

One of those happened earlier this year. Matt, along with his son Layne and agronomist Robb Dedman, were sitting in the shop on Feb. 17. They looked at the forecast, which featured mild temperatures for that time of year, as well as no rain. To them, that was an open window to plant. So, they decided to push the limits with planting dates and planted soybeans just a couple days later.

“The February bean trial, that was a 50/50 shot, maybe a 30% shot that it was going to work. I mean, it had 2" of snow on it, 10 days below freezing, took 30 days to come out of the ground. And those beans look just like these,” says Miles standing in front of what looks like a picture-perfect soybean field. “We’re pretty pumped about that.”

Read more: 5 Steps For Successful Early-Season Soybean Planting

While Miles doesn’t always plant that early, Miles Farms has found planting early has been a crucial move on their farm.

“Earliness has made a difference and has been a big deal with us on soybeans to dictate yield,” he says. “But it also dictates on the amount of pests that we have to deal with during that time.”

Dedman, who is now an agronomist dedicated to Miles Farms, says their area of the country battles pests every year. Previous trials have proven planting dates are a major way to fight those pests.

“We don’t generally have real aggressive winters that get rid of the insects and diseases that we fight,” explains Dedman. “We tend to want to plant as early as we can to try and outrun them.”

Read More: Farm Journal Test Plots: How Early Soybean Planting Pays

Annual Battle Against Pests

Last year, Arkansas farmers battled intense armyworm infestations earlier than ever. Part of the problem was how late some of the state’s crop was planted due to wet weather and even flooding in the spring. As predicted, the infestation marched into the Midwest throughout the summer, with farmers in even Ohio seeing armyworms for the first time ever .

This year, University of Arkansas entomologist Ben Thrash says blister beetles and light armyworm pressure are being reported.

Resurgence of Southwestern Corn Borer in Non-Bt Fields

As Thrash closely watches potential pest pressure across the state, he says one pest problem popping up for farmers in corn is southwestern corn borer.

“If you’re planting non-Bt corn year after year in the same area, that’s where you start running into issues with your southwestern corn borer,” says Thrash.

There are corn traits that still protect against southwestern corn borer. Thrash says he’s noticed fields that have non-Bt the first year aren’t infested as bad, but the impact in fields planted in non-Bt corn back-to-back is brutal.

“100% yield loss,” says Thrash. “You can completely lose a field to southwestern corn borer. That used to happen years ago before they had Bt corn. I mean, there are fields that are completely devastated by southwestern corn borer. So, they can be a really, really serious issue.”

While southwestern corn borer has been the most lethal pest problem in areas of Arkansas so far this year, in soybeans, it’s the usual suspect starting to creep in: stinkbugs.

“Those stinkbugs, they’re seed feeders,” says Thrash. “You need to start being concerned about some of these stink bugs.”

Redbanded Stink Bugs on the Move

Thrash, Miles and Dedman all say green and brown stinks bugs in soybeans are manageable. It’s a newer pest that’s marched into Arkansas that now has farmers on edge.

“The redbanded stink bugs, we’ve only had them one year, but they absolutely make you want to puke because you can’t control them. They come back so fast. But we’ve been fortunate so far this year that it’s been a little lighter than what we thought it would be,” says Miles.

Thrash says redbanded stink bugs are relentless feeders and studies show they reproduce more quickly than other stink bugs and are hard to control.

“Part of the issue is their salivary enzymes are more potent than with our green and brown stink bugs,” he says.

Redbanded stinks bugs aren’t only difficult to control, the pest has proven to be devastating to yield.

“It’s severe,” says Thrash. “You can have very severe yield loss from redbanded stink bugs. If you had some really bad years, I guarantee you could have 90% yield loss on some fields if they’re really bad.”

Redbanded stinks bugs are a tropical pest that have been a problem in states farther south for more than a decade. Thrash says the pest overwinters in southern Louisiana, which has created a threat for farmers farther north.

“What we’re going to have to watch out for is whenever Louisiana starts harvesting beans down south, that is going to be when we may have a push of redbanded stink bugs,” says Thrash.

Scouting Fields Early and Often

Being on the lookout for late-season pest pressure is already top of mind for Dedman. He scouts Miles Farms’ fields constantly this time of year, monitoring for pest pressure above thresholds. Dedman says they use some NDVI imagery, but Dedman also walks all of their fields weekly.

“Ten years ago, I don’t know that we were fighting as aggressively to protect the soybean crop as we are now,” says Deman. “I think we understand more today what true damage can be done by those pests.”

Scouting is another way Miles Farms plays offense in pest control, as he says there have been years when fields had little pressure. But in just a matter of days, the population had exploded, requiring treatment immediately.

“You can get in other areas where insect pressure is not so bad, but it can creep up on you here,” says Miles. “We pretty much don’t let it creep up on us, because we know they’re going to be there every year. I mean, they’re persistent little dudes, and they’re timely.”

The Move Away from Automatic Insecticide Applications

While pest pressure can be a problem in Miles’ area of Arkansas due to the weather, not every one of their fields will see automatic insecticide applications this year.

“One thing we do is we spray when it’s needed,” he says.

The move to no longer automatically apply insecticide with their fungicide application is one that Dedman was adamant about.

“We’re going to trigger insecticide applications or fungicide applications, depending on what pest we’re battling, based off of thresholds,” he says.

“I was scared of it at first,” says Miles. “Planes flying all over, my neighbors flying everywhere and we’re sitting there not doing anything. So, it took Rob proving it to me to make it work, but so far it’s worked pretty good for us. “

Miles Farms only applies insecticide when needed to help protect beneficial insects also lurking in their fields, a move entomologists support.

Playing Offense Against Pests

Instead, Dedman says talking to other area farmers and agronomists, and getting the pulse on what they’re seeing, can be extremely healthy for farmers and their crops.

“Just being aware of what’s going on around us, and in our geography and what other people are finding, that’s probably the biggest tool we have,” says Dedman.

From the traits they plant to the management tools in season, staying ahead of potential pest problems has proven to be their best line of defense.

“You try to minimize your risk,” adds Dedman. “The safest place for this crop to be is in that grain bin. And the longer it stays out here, the more exposure we have, and the more risk of damage that we have.”

From corn earworm and corn rootworm to soybean cyst nematodes, the Farm Journal content team explores the pests that create problems for farmers in the field in the ongoing content series, “Unspoken Truth About Pests.”

Unspoken Truths About Pests: Winter Weather Impact

Thu, 21 Jul 2022 11:44:30 GMT

It seems logical … winter temperatures take a stark nosedive and several rounds of snow follow. Come spring, the pests that were spending their winter vacations in your fields should all be dead, right? The short answer: Maybe, but probably not.

“Cold winters help prevent many potential pest insects from establishing in the Corn Belt, particularly the upper Midwest,” says Anthony Hanson, University of Minnesota Extension specialist. “Additionally, extreme cold can knock back established species that are overwintering.”

BRUTAL TEMPERATURES

The cold typically needs to be extreme and prolonged to really impact pest mortality.

“Many insects can survive temperatures well-below freezing due to their own antifreeze compounds such as glycerol,” Hanson says. “For the most part, insects match the temperature of their surrounding environment, making them cold-blooded. Unlike warm-blooded animals, wind chill doesn’t really affect insects, but air temperature does.”

For pests that overwinter underground, soil temperatures are key for survival. For example, western corn rootworm beetles lay their eggs from late July through September.

Most eggs are laid within the top 4" of soil, although depths up to 12" have been reported. Above the soil, cornstalks, cover crops or leaf litter can add a layer of insulation, Hanson says.

Then, if the field receives a consistent blanket of snow, soil temperatures, especially lower in the profile, can remain moderate.

“Corn rootworm eggs begin to have some mortality near 20ºF,” Hanson says, “but that’s not full mortality.”

Based on laboratory studies, he says, corn rootworms eggs do

not near 100% mortality until soil temperatures are near 0ºF.

For the pests that overwinter above ground, winter mortality rates can be easier to predict with air temperature, but insect movement can make predicting next year’s risk difficult.

For example, soybean aphid eggs freeze between -25ºF to -35ºF, but even if winter lows reach -35ºF, summer adults are very mobile and can colonize new areas by field-to-field flight or long-distance travel on air currents, Hanson says.

As a result, wintering populations can recolonize in more northern areas from large parts of the Uppr Midwest where winter temperatures were not as lethal to the aphids.

PEST OUTLOOK

Winter is far from over, and many Midwestern regions saw a warm start.

“December was incredibly warm in a good portion of the Midwest,” says Dennis Todey, director of USDA’s Midwest Climate Hub. “A large chunk of the Midwest was well above average, 6°F to 12°F above normal.”

If the winter weather pattern stays warm, be ready for potentially higher pest issues this crop year, Todey says.

“Even if it is cold enough for pests not to overwinter, warm winters may mean they don’t have to go as far south to overwinter,” he says. “So, crop pests can be reintroduced earlier in the spring.”

Remember, pests can quickly multiply, Hanson says: “So even a small percent of the surviving population can still cause problems under the right conditions.”

When in doubt, scout early.

“Keep an eye on your fields,” Hanson says. “Know the general timing of when pests show up or even determine if this year pests could arrive earlier based on degree-days. Even when winter helps us out, you won’t know for sure if your field has pest issues or not until you scout.”

Where Pests Overwinter

Beyond weather conditions, where insects overwinter affects mortality, says Anthony Hanson, University of Minnesota Extension specialist. Here are where common pests typically spend the cold months.

Read more from this series, which shares insights on how to control pest problems .

Unspoken Truth About Pests: Weather's Influential Role in Pest Pressure This Year

Thu, 21 Jul 2022 11:42:18 GMT

As drought continues to plague farmers in the Northern Plains and Northwest, more record-setting heat is also forecast for next week.

“We have several fields here that are in tough shape,” says Terry Angvick, a farmer in Sheridan County, Mont. “The average spring wheat or durum crop in this year is 35 bushels per acre. I’m projecting half of normal.”

The dry weather and relentless heat weren’t the only factor eating into yields. Grasshoppers infested drought-stricken fields , an issue Angvick hasn’t seen since the 1980s.

“They will reduce yields significantly, to the point where in some fields there will be no harvest,” he says.

The radar is lighting up! But it's not rain, unfortunately. Just countless grasshoppers flying as high as 10,000 feet above the ground! Thunderstorm chances will increase Sunday evening into early next week, but then it looks to dry out and heat up once again. #mtwx pic.twitter.com/dgTCYgM0Vh
— NWS Glasgow (@NWSGlasgow) July 2, 2021

As the grasshoppers grow and become mobile, the pests fly across fields and become more of an issue to control. The problem is so bad this year, the National Weather Service’s radar picked up the swarm.

“Weather is always very influential on pest pressure, a lot of pests’ (emergence) time is heat unit based,” says Missy Bauer of B&M Crop Consulting .

Farm Journal Field Agronomists Ken Ferrie and Missy Bauer say it’s the lack of rains early that start showing up as an issue in the summer months.

“For us locally [in Heyworth, Ill.], we did not get heavy rains during the rootworm hatch,” says Ferrie, owner of Crop-Tech Consulting . “So, there is a window of opportunity to drown rootworm when the soil is saturated right there at the hatch. We did not get that. So, we’re seeing a little bit more rootworm pressure from that situation there.”

Weather’s Quick-Switch

In Michigan, not only did farmers not see rains early, but Mother Nature made a quick switch this year.

“I would say my biggest concern here is we went from being extremely dry, where we are on the drought monitor and starting to see a lot of crop stress, to then 13 days of pretty much solid rain,” says Bauer. “And they were big rains, anywhere from 6" to 12".”

She says that sudden change in weather compounds crop stress.

“Now we went from being too dry to saturated soils and really losing a lot of nitrogen,” explains Bauer. “I think it’s the added stress that’s probably going to be our bigger factor. So, let’s say now we do end up with some sort of insect pressure, but we’ve already had all these compounding stresses on top of it, I’m more concerned about just the added stress from it.”

Ferrie says more so than the issue of too dry or too wet, it’s the heat – and lack of heat – that can be often be a problem when it comes to pests. (Read more about the “Unspoken Truth About Pests” here .)

“For insects, it’s not always the dry or wet situation, we track insects by insect GDU,” he says. “That becomes part of their development, so we know when the actual infestation is going to take place.”

Wind Direction/Speed

The other major factor: winds.

“Other things that in the weather that affect insects is those that blow up from the South,” adds Ferrie. “Your southerly winds, for instance, bring in our cutworm populations and maybe our southwestern corn borer, stuff like that.”

From wind direction, including velocity of the gusts, it comes with increased pest pressure risks.

“Things like armyworm, black cutworm, moths, those are all things that really blow up from the southern areas into our area,” adds Bauer. “And then once they get here, then we again go back to heat unit based on when things actually hatch after the eggs are laid from the moths.”

For 2021, University of Illinois Extension entomologist Nick Seiter says weather hasn’t played a major role in the eastern Corn Belt.

“We haven’t seen dramatic impacts of the weather on pest populations this year,” he says. “Spider mites are a great example of a pest that weather leads to when you have very wet weather, particularly when you have that at the wrong time, or the right time, I guess, if you’re trying to get rid of corn rootworm.”

From very wet conditions, to even the extremes of flooding, the amount of moisture can drown out issues in a given year.

“If you have flooding conditions when those eggs are hatching, you can have pretty dramatic negative impact on that population and reduce corn rootworm pressure,” says Seiter. “We haven’t had either of those situations this year, but those are prime examples.”

Major Misconceptions

As farmers and agronomists hit the fields to scout, agronomists and entomologists say there’s one major misconception when it comes to weather’s impact on insect populations that year.

“I think probably one of the big misconceptions is the winter,” says Bauer. “People always say, ‘Oh, it was this type of winter or that type of winter, and that’s going to influence my pest pressure.’” There might be a little bit of truth to some of that. But remember, so many of these pests do overwinter in other places and get blown in with the moths and the wind currents.”

It’s a misconception voiced from Michigan to Ohio.

“The thing that I get asked every time we have a cold winter is will the cold winter affect the insect populations, will there be fewer insects, and I’m always very sad to tell people, ‘No, not really,’” says Kelly Tilmon, field crop entomologist with Ohio State University. “I do get this question a lot, but the fact is that insects are very well adapted to live in the climates where they occur, even the extremes of those climates.”

“When we have a hard winter, some farmers think that’s really going to come through and take out a lot of our pest population,” adds Seiter. “That happens to some extent, but most of the insects that we deal with regularly in Illinois, particularly things like corn rootworm, Japanese beetle and bean leaf beetle, they’re pretty well adapted to an Illinois winter.”

Ferrie says farmers also think an abrupt change in weather can cause new pest problems to pop up.

“Two dry days don’t create a spider mite issue, and two wet days don’t create a disease issue in the corn,” says Ferrie.

Instead, Ferrie points out by the time farmers notice heavy infestation issues, it’s probably been a problem for weeks.

“Most of the time we’re looking at two- to three-week weather patterns that set us up. It’s not as quick as some people want to believe,” he says.

The Farm Journal team is digging into details of pest pressures in an ongoing series called “Unspoken Truth About Pests.” Read more about battling pest pressures, including five ways to be a better scout, here .

Join Ken Ferrie and team for the 2021 Farm Journal Corn and Soybean College in Heyworth, Ill. The two-day event starts Tuesday, August 3 at 8 a.m. From nature and climate, to the implication of soil types, the team at Crop-Tech Consulting will help farmers create a successful plan that can adjust as the environments change.

Unspoken Truth About Pests: Emerging Pest Pressure That Could Come to a Field Near You

Thu, 21 Jul 2022 11:41:37 GMT

In the heat of July, scouting for pests is part of the job for northern Indiana agronomist Marc Eads. While weather plays a role in pest pressure each year, this year, it isn’t insects giving farmers fits, it’s slugs.

“The feeding can often be mistaken for flee beetle feeding in corn,” says Ead as he’s walking fields. “Slugs are actually not an insect, they’re a gastropod. So, they are a shell-less snail,” he adds. “They do most of their damage in the early part of the growing season.”

No-till or minimum-till fields with plenty of cover, combined with cool spring weather, set up parts of northern Indiana for major slug damage.

“I have seen a field not too far from where we’re standing right now that was replanted four times,” he adds.

While the Eastern Corn Belt dealt with slugs in reduced tillage fields this year, the Western Corn Belt has fields that haven’t seen a piece of tillage equipment in over 30 years. Frahm Farmland in Colby, Kan., has been no-till for decades. And the reduction in tillage practices has helped with insect control.

“I think it makes [insect control] easier,” says Christian Wilson of Frahm Farmland.

Pests Popping Up

From no-till to conventional tillage, farmers across Illinois are seeing one specific pest pop up more.

“One of those insects that we’re seeing more of, and I don’t really know the reason why, is wireworm,” says Farm Journal agronomist Ken Ferrie, who also owns Crop-Tech Consulting. “We’re dealing with more wireworm every year.”

Ferrie says the issue is also a problem in fields farmers were forced to replant.

“The population seemed to be building, or we find more fields with wireworm issues,” says Ferrie.

While the reason remains a mystery, up and coming pest pressure is something Ferrie continues to watch.

“The other insect that we do see more of each year in Illinois is the northern rootworm beetle,” Ferrie adds. “It used to be more of an Iowa, Wisconsin bug, and it seems to be moving in, especially in the northern parts of the state. And we’ll add to be dealing with that as those pressures build.”

Location, Location, Location

As certain pest pressures build, Farm Journal Associate Agronomist Missy Bauer says it’s often geography based.

“I think it depends really where you’re at,” says Bauer, owner of B&M Crop Consulting. “Like here in Michigan, we’re dealing with western bean cutworm way more than we used to. 10 years ago, we didn’t hardly have to deal with it at all; now it’s something every year we’re paying attention to.”

There’s another emerging issue happening in soils that tend to be sandier.

“Asiatic garden beetle is another new emerging pest for us here in Michigan,” Bauer says. “It likes sandier soils, and it can really cause problems in young corn and emerging corn fields and give you a lot of unevenness out there in the field.”

Factors Fueling Pest Populations

From soil type to seed type, there are other factors fueling insect populations and problems.

“We do have corn borer building in the areas where farmers have moved to the non-Bt market for market premiums,” says Ferrie. “And if we do that for a series of years, we start to see more and more pressure build in those areas.”

As seed companies invest in more traits and modes of action, it’s helping combat some of the emerging issues. However, an entomologist with Ohio State University says growers need to stay diligent in scouting, as pest problems are also popping up in Bt fields.

“Many of the corn earworm in the South have become resistant to the types of Bt that are used to manage them,” says Kelley Tilmon, with Ohio State University. “So, not only are we getting influxes of corn earworm, we’re getting influxes of Bt-resistant earworm.

As pests adapt, a constant focus in research and development may always be needed.

“That’s a very important point in general for people to keep in mind, nature always finds a way around our management strategies,” she says.

But as traits continue to evolve to help farmers combat pests, Bauer says there are insects that farmers no longer battle every year due to genetics and traits to help combat certain pests.

“One pest we used to deal with, especially when I first started my career, was European corn borer,” says Bauer. “I wouldn’t say we have eliminated it, as some people have conventional corn, and if you have conventional corn you still need to be out there scouting it. But where there’s so much corn with traits now, that seems to be one thing we just don’t have to deal with very often.”

From genetics and traits to a change in production methods on farms across the country, pest problems can create financial woes.

“If the pressure is high enough where they’re actually causing economic damage, you’re going to be able to find them,” says Eads.

Even as agronomists like Eads continue to battle both known and unknown pests each year.

Read more about “Unspoken Truths About Pests” here .

Unspoken Truth About Pests: This Pest Can Cost You 15% to 50% in Yield Loss

Thu, 21 Jul 2022 11:40:47 GMT

In the 40 years Gus Lorenz has focused on pests , 2021 marks a first.

“This fall armyworm outbreak is the worst I’ve seen in my career,” says Lorenz, Extension entomologist for the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture. “It’s not just rice, it’s really bad in soybeans. We see a few in cotton, and they’re in grain sorghum and even eating corn.”

Lorenz says the fall armyworm infestation is widespread, not just by crop type, but also by geography this growing season.

“It’s from one end of the state to the other, it’s all four directions. It’s bad everywhere,” he adds. “And in the pastures, we’ve had several fields where the hay crop was totally devastated by it.”

As Arkansas farmers and entomologists work to battle the pest, Lorenz says this year has been the “perfect storm” in the worst way. Torrential rains in May and June caused flooded fields, and as farmers were forced to replant late that caused another problem to sprout early.

“They don’t call it fall armyworm for nothing,” says Lorenz. “It usually strikes us late, but this year it started early. I’ve never seen so many fall armyworms. Anywhere you go, everybody’s got fall armyworms.”

It’s a problem so potent this year, farmers don’t have to walk or drive far to see it.

“A lot of times you can see them from, you know, the truck driving down the road, especially in some really bad situations,” says Ben Thrash, Extension entomologist for the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture. “In soybean fields, they just leave stems out there in the field, so it’s kind of easy to spot out there.”

Yield-Robbing Pest

Once the worms grow to an inch long, the fall armyworm damage can be devastating, especially in rice.

“We can tell you based on work the university has done, that once you start seeing around 20% defoliation, it can cost you anywhere from 15% even up to 50% yield loss,” says Lorenz.

What can be more detrimental is how the pest delays crop maturity.

“If they eat the crop down and it has to grow back, it can delay maturity by up to 30 days, and that’s the difference in making a crop a lot of times and not,” Lorenz says.

It’s not just rice facing crop loss from fall armyworm infestations. Soybeans are also seeing the surge, which can cause crop-loss costs to add up quickly, too.

“In soybeans, and in the vegetative stage of soybeans, a lot of times on late-planted crops it can range up to about 30% to 35% yield loss from defoliation on those small soybeans,” says Thrash. “Now you get later on in the growing season in reproductive soybeans, and it can be a lot higher than even that.”

“The impact is much greater on late-planted stuff than it is with earlier planted crops, because it doesn’t have time to compensate for that defoliation,” Lorenz adds. “When you have late-planted crops, and you get these kind of insect infestations, it’s doubling down on the impact to our growers.”

Weed Pressure’s Impact on Pest Pressure

Thrash says the other issue in soybeans this year is an increase in weed pressure. The weeds are attracting the pests, but once the weeds are managed by the grower, it may be too late to rid the fields of the pests, as well.

“We had all this weather, which delayed a lot of our herbicide applications. And so grass got to grow up in some of these soybean fields,” says Thrash. “As the fall armyworms prefer the grass out there in the field, whenever it finally dries up enough to where the grower can make a herbicide application, he kills the grass while the armyworms on the grass are still out there in the field. So, they move off on the soybeans, and a lot of times those worms are already pretty good size. And that’s when they do 90% of what they’re going to eat in their whole lifetime in those last couple growing stages.”

Sent by one of our consultants from grass between rows. Armyworm’s are worse this year than anyone can remember. pic.twitter.com/JrPiDrqogp
— Angus Catchot (@acatchot) July 30, 2021

Coming for the Midwest?

As farmers in Arkansas battle an army of armyworms, it’s an issue Lorenz warns could be coming for the Midwest next.

“I think the folks up in the Midwest, and northern Missouri and up in Indiana and Illinois, I think they’ll all get a little taste of this fall armyworm before it’s over with,” says Lorenz.

True Cost of Pest Pressure

Farm Journal Field Agronomist Ken Ferrie says the true cost of pest pressure varies by the insect.

“We’ve seen corn borer pressures that amount to a 30-bushel or 40-bushel per acre loss, and when we talk about corn rootworm, it depends on whether the rootworm pressure is heavy enough and the corn goes down. If the corn is still standing, it might be a 7- to 10-bushel loss. But if corn goes down, it can be 30 to 40 bushels in yield loss.”

Ferrie warns the cost of pest pressure doesn’t always come from yield.

“For instance, the issue of down corn, whether that be a rootworm issue or maybe some corn borer issue, it slows down the harvest,” says Ferrie. “So, not only would it take away yields, it may double the amount of time in harvesting and the situation where that cost in the fall can be pretty expensive, especially if you’re up against the weather to get all your fall work done.”

As the cost of pest pressure can add up quickly in the fall, Farm Journal Associate Field Agronomist Missy Bauer says timeliness of application is key.

“If you go out here and you’re too late, you’ve already had too much damage, and we’ve given up too much yield,” she says.

Bauer cautions it’s not just timeliness with scouting, but also treatment.

“If you start to realize that you have some clipping issues going on in your corn tassel, and you have nobody even lined up to potentially help you spray and take care of that, whether it’s an airplane or a ground rig, it’s too late,” she says. “So, you should always have your plan laid out. And then, as you see issues, you just have to implement the plan that’s laid out there. If you missed the boat on the timing side of it, we’re behind the eight ball, we’re giving up a lot of yield in a hurry.”

Below-Ground Problems

And the lurking insects aren’t just above ground, but below what the eye can see.

“They’re feeding on those corn roots when you can’t see what’s going on,” Bauer says. “So, unless you’re digging up the plants and doing some rootworm floats, you really have no idea what that pressure is like until they actually hatch. And now you’ve got beetles clipping on the silks instead. So, it’s things below ground that I think we’ve got to be cautious of.”

High Pest Pressure Overall

For farmers in the South, the growing concern about pests this year isn’t just with fall armyworms but also with plant bugs.

“We’re looking at maybe seven, eight, even nine applications to control this plant bug situation in cotton for a lot of our growers,” says Lorenz.

As the quest to protect valuable bushels and pounds in fields continues, Lorenz reminds growers that every detail counts.

“Maintaining the area around the field and keeping those turn rows where they’re not producing seed heads can have a huge impact,” he says.

The Extension entomologists say there are production practices a grower can implement to help with insects. The first is plant early. The other is try to plant in narrow rows to allow for faster, greater canopy. And when it comes to cotton, make sure cotton fields aren’t planted next to corn. However, both Lorenz and Thrash say weather has the final say every year, and wet weather this year meant some of those options were not possible or feasible.

Read more about the Unspoken Truth About Pests .

Expect More Corn Rootworm Problems This Season

Wed, 20 Jul 2022 20:32:22 GMT

Farmers in some parts of the Midwest are likely to see more pressure from corn rootworm (CRW) this season than in recent years, say university entomologists.

Erin Hodges, Iowa State University Extension entomologist, cites several reasons. She says Iowa farmers should plan for corn rootworm if they had any of these contributing factors during the past two years: continuous corn, late-maturing hybrids, delayed and/or replanted fields, weedy fields and borders, and soybeans with significant volunteer corn.

During a recent webinar, Hodges says based on 2020 reports, the “number of problem fields (in Iowa) increased and the geographic range is expanding.”

Parts of Illinois are also experiencing more CRW pressure.

“Farmers in northern and northwestern Illinois are seeing more corn rootworm, and it’s not limited to that area,” reports Nick Seiter, University of Illinois field entomologist.

Seiter adds that despite the upswing of CRW in some areas and regions, the good news is CRW populations across most states remain low.

Bt traits continue to falter. One of the key factors Seiter says is contributing to the population increase in Illinois is CRW resistance or partial resistance is common to the Cry3 proteins (Cry3Bb1, mCry3A and eCry3.1Ab).

He adds that reduced CRW susceptibility also exists to Cry34/35Ab1, but that problem is not as widespread as the Cry3 resistance. Seiter says most CRW trait packages in hybrids today contain Cry34/35Ab1 plus a Cry3 toxin.

Hodgson says she has confirmed field-evolved resistance to all four of the Bt traits for CRW with cross resistance between all three Cry3 proteins.

“Iowa farmers should assume some level of Cry3 resistance in all Iowa cornfields,” she says.

Hodgson adds that she has seen no cross resistance in Iowa with Cry34/35Ab1.

Most resistance problems farmers find are with western corn rootworm, though not all. “Resistance in northern corn rootworm was recently confirmed in North Dakota and is suspected elsewhere,” Seiter says.

For more insights on resistance problems and traits, farmers can consult the “Handy Bt Trait Table” at https://www.texasinsects.org/bt-corn-trait-table.html

Be prepared to dig up corn plants. The initial signs that corn rootworm is impacting a crop’s yield potential is not usually visible above ground.

“In most years, with adequate moisture, at least in Iowa, you’re not going to see above-ground signs of stress,” Hodgson says.

“You probably won’t see any lodged corn, and you probably will see ears that are filled out pretty good,” she adds. “You often won’t see signs of increasing injury and declining yield until the end of the season.”

Farmers will need to dig up corn plants and evaluate root nodes for damage. “Root nodes contribute to nutrient and water uptake; when nodes are pruned plant vigor is compromised and yield loss results,” she says.

Hodges says severe pruning of a single root node contributes to approximately 15% yield loss.

She encourages farmers to assess root damage using the Iowa State University 0 to 3 node-injury scale, with 0 equal to no damage and 3 meaning 3 nodes of roots are pruned. Approximately 10 roots is equivalent to one node.

Hodges says If you are planting a pyramid corn hybrid this season – that means there are two CRW traits in the same hybrid – the EPA says you should not see greater than a .5 level of injury to a single node from larvae feeding. With a single trait hybrid, the EPA says you should never see a score above 1.

If traits are not performing as advertised, Hodges says you may want to contact your seed supplier.

In addition, Hodges and Seiter do not recommend layering Bt traits with a soil-applied insecticide. They give several reasons. The practice increases costs, won’t necessarily prevent root injury and can cover up a resistance problem.

Corn Rootworm Pressure To Persist In 2021 For Corn Belt

AMVAC Survey: Corn Rootworm Pressure Intensifies, Soil Insecticide Demand Will Rise

More Corn Rootworm Trait Failure

Got Drought? Which Mite Might You Have?

Wed, 20 Jul 2022 20:31:15 GMT

With farmers across several states enduring drought conditions, it’s prime time for spider mites to make their move. These sucking, biting pests can damage the crop’s photosynthetic abilities, thereby hurting yields. In addition, any stressor opens the crops up to more disease.

“Proper identification of the mite species present in a field is essential for making control recommendations and selecting an appropriate pesticide,” according to the University of Nebraska Extension (UNL). One mite is harder to control than the other, and certain pesticides can even increase that mite’s population.

There are two types of spider mites to monitor: Banks grass mite (BGM) and two-spotted spider mite (TSM). TSM is the more troublesome and harder to control of the two species. Because mites are so small, typically requiring a magnified glass to see them, you cannot rely on appearance alone to differentiate them.

Here are some of the ways to distinguish between TSM and BGM, according to UNL.

Two Spotted Spider Mite

Dark green in two distinct spots on the front half of the body
Rounded body
Spider-like silk webbing, typically produces more webs than BGM
Hosts include many grass species, soybeans, fruit trees, vegetables and ornamentals
Mid- to late-season pest
Feeds on entire plant
Overwinters in primarily alfalfa and other broadleaves along crop field borders
Has resistance so control is more difficult

Banks Grass Mite

Dark green pigment spots extend down length of body
Elongated body
Spider-like silk webbing
Hosts are almost exclusively grass, such as corn and sorghum
Early season pest
Attacks lower leaves mostly, moves upward as infestation grows
Overwinters in crowns of winter wheat and native grasses
Moderately susceptible to common miticides

“When the weather in June, July and August is especially hot and dry, mites can reach damaging numbers,” UNL continues.

You Just Mite Have Crop Damage

Wed, 20 Jul 2022 20:30:53 GMT

Often undetected by the naked eye, spider mites take advantage of crop stress and weakness for their own gain. These piercing, sucking pests look to severely damage your corn or soybean leaves while satisfying their own appetites.

If you start to notice more stress in your plants, especially corn, check for spider mites with a magnifying glass. If left unchecked, they can kill leaves and reduce photosynthetic capabilities of plants.

60% Yield Robber

Typically, spider mites hang out in the central Plains, where weather conditions are nice and dry. Irrigated fields tend to have less mite damage, but you should still scout and treat when you reach threshold.

“The key thing is to be aware of host areas,” says Brian Battles, UPL territory sales manager.

Factors that can elevate risk of spider mite, according to Battles and the University of Nebraska Extension, include:

Longer periods of dry, hot weather favor mite infestations.
Drought that causes stress in crops increases susceptibility.
Wheat, cover crops and other host fields nearby provide overwintering habitat.

Check leaves for yellow to whiteish spots. If present, check the underside of leaves for webbing, eggs or the presence of mites. Female mites typically only reach 0.016", so bring a magnifying glass to help look for them.

Spider mites cause the most damage in corn when they infect the ear leaf and above. They can cause up to 60% yield loss in soybeans, according to research from the University of Nebraska Extension. Also watch for reduced quality in silage corn from mite feeding.

Treat and Track

If possible, wait to treat crops until they are in the reproductive phases of growth, at a full rate of miticide. However, this year provided extra challenges as prolonged drought conditions pushed some farmers to treat early and again later in the season.

“I’m not a big fan of split applications, most consultants aren’t,” Battles says. “We prefer single, full-rate applications of 54 oz. [rate specific for Comite II brand] rather than split application. You can get four weeks of control of mites in all stages from that.“

If you have early infestation, Battles suggests keeping track of populations in your fields. The longer you can keep damage below the ear leaf, the longer you can hold off on application to hopefully hit better timing.

To learn how to identify the two types of spider mites, visit AgWeb.com/spider-mites

Grasshoppers Swarm Wheat Fields, A Phenomenon One Grower Hasn't Seen Since the 1980s

Wed, 20 Jul 2022 20:29:42 GMT

Montana farmers are dealing with a double dose of weather issues. The lack of rain has been showing up on the U.S. Drought Monitor all year, with shades of orange and red painted across the entire state.

In addition to the extreme dryness plaguing fields, the extreme heat is also suffocating crops in parts of the state. While some areas of Montana had rain and cooler temperatures last week, the historic heat is back on deck, with forecasts showing temperatures topping 100 degrees °F.

?We hit 100 degrees here in Glasgow today. This is the 7th day in 2021 with a high >=100. ?And highs will be >=100 in Glasgow everyday for at least the next week. ?The year with the most highs >=100 was 1936, checking in with 22 days. #mtwx #heatwave2021 — NWS Glasgow (@NWSGlasgow) July 16, 2021

For Montana farmers, some took a chance on planting early, while others waited on a rain to plant. When the rains never came, the later-planted spring wheat crops crumpled and are what’s struggling the most in Montana right now.

“The extreme heat isn’t typical, at least not this extreme,” says Terry Angvick, a farmer in Sheridan County, Mont. “I mean, we will normally have hot days in July and August, sure, but nothing like this. Usually when we have hot temperatures like this, they bring thunderstorms. We haven’t seen that very much.”

Between the later-planted crops already shriveling up from lack of moisture, he says the heat next week will be lethal for the portion of the crop that’s already barely hanging on.

“We have several fields here that are in tough shape, and it’s a combination of things,” Angvick says. “We have poor stands because of the drought, so thin, poor emergence, and then along with being planted later and lack of moisture, we have a poor stand in wheat to begin with. So with the grasshoppers coming along, that’ll kind of just finish it off. That’s probably a tough way to say that, but that’s kind of what happens.”

Grasshoppers Preying on Dry Wheat Fields

Yes, grasshoppers. Intense swarms of grasshoppers are even showing up on this National Weather Service graphic, an issue Angvick hasn’t seen this extreme since the 1980s.

“They were really bad in the mid-80s for about three years in a row,” he says. “Dry conditions, dry fall conditions, equal some great survival of insects like grasshoppers.”

This pictures shows the damage grasshoppers can cause. Taken in a Montana spring wheat field this week, the pests start in the ditch, moving their way into the corners and edges of a field.

Angvick says the grasshoppers are showing up in pockets around his Montana county, but once grasshoppers are mobile, they are almost too late to control.

“Once they start flying, now they’re mobile, and when you said something about the radar, that’s exactly what happens. They become very mobile in a case like that.”

Growers in his area are doing everything they can, including spraying insecticide for more than three weeks straight. But as conditions grow even more dire, the grasshoppers prey on those fields, making conditions even worse.

“They will reduce the crop in fields significantly to the point where in some there will be no harvest,” he says. “First thing they’ll do is strip the leaves off the plants. And then if it hasn’t headed yet, I’m thinking in terms of wheat, then the next thing the grasshoppers do is they’ll crawl up and clip the [wheat] head off.”

Angick says in the earlier planted wheat crop, that is in better shape with more vegetation, the grasshoppers didn’t consume those fields as much. It’s the fields that look the worst, and are drying up, to which the grasshoppers are attracted. Angvick estimates up to 50% of the wheat in his area was planted late.

“The average crop in this area is about 35 bushels of spring wheat or Durham, and this year will be around 30% to maybe 40% of that,” he adds. “So, 10- to 15-bushel an acre average in the county. And that might be optimistic.”

It’s not just Montana seeing extensive damage from grasshoppers preying on fields. Utah Wool Growers Association shared the following pictures with AgDay, showing the combination of drought, heat and grasshopper infestation.

Grasshoppers Popping Up in Texas

According to AgFax’s Southwest Cotton newsletter, the grasshoppers are also showing up in Texas.

“Insects are not a big issue, but we’re seeing a few grasshoppers in irrigation circle corners,” says Tim Ballinger, Ballinger Innovative Agronomics, Dumas, Texas. “We’ll need to keep scouting for these and other insects that can attack our fields.”

The grasshoppers aren’t destroying Texas fields like they are in Montana. Ballinger says the reason is the Texas Panhandle has seen rains, with more than an inch falling again last week.

“On other crops, corn is healthy and enjoyed the rain. It’s tasseling, putting on ears and silking. It’s approaching peak water use, so guys need to manage their irrigation schedule closely after all of the rain. Sorghum is all over the board. Some is 2 leaf to 3 leaf, while other fields are at 12 leaf to 13 leaf and will be booting in about two weeks,” Ballinger says.

He says the late spring and early summer rains helped the winter wheat crop in his area. Wheat harvest produced an above-average crop in his area, with yields anywhere from 70 bushels to 100 bushels per acre.

“The May rains benefited the wheat,” he says.

Drought and Grasshoppers Ravage Fields in Northwest, Some Producers Bale 10% of Normal Hay Crop

Wed, 20 Jul 2022 20:28:48 GMT

Grasshoppers are invading pastures and fields. The corn is so short farmers are forced to chop with a draper head. Ranchers continue to cull cows. The drought in the West is producing many firsts, as farmers and ranchers grapple with dire decisions as the latest U.S. Drought Monitor shows 98% of the West is covered in drought.

“It’s so widespread that I’m afraid it’s going to be pretty devastating to the industry,” says Bob Skinner, a rancher in southeast Oregon. “Hay in our country is going to be really hard to find. Prices are going up every day.”

Conditions are so dire, Skinner had to pull his cattle off federal BLM land more than a month early. The BLM land is a vital summer grazing resource in the Northwest, but this year, the drought took its toll on conditions and he was left with no choice.

“There’s no pasture, anywhere, period around here,” Skinner says. “It doesn’t matter where you go, or how much you pay for it. You can’t find pasture. You couple the drought with the grasshopper situation, and it means a lack of hay.”

North Dakota ranchers have been culling cows since April and May . As drought conditions grew worse, producers were forced to make those dire decisions early. (Read more about the impacts farmers and ranchers are facing due to the drought here .)

Plague of the Grasshoppers

What’s adding to the dire drought situation is the plague of grasshoppers . Skinner says the infestation of grasshoppers is so intense, the insects are finishing off any grazing that survived the drought — making a bad situation worse. Skinner says it’s so dire, he’s reached out to state officials to see if APHIS or any other relief efforts could help ranchers in the area.

“I have state officials coming here tomorrow. I think they’re getting tired of listening to me, so they’re coming to look at our grasshopper situation. But they told me they’re not going to be able to do anything. It’s frustrating,” Skinner says.

Skinner says the last time he saw a grasshopper infestation close to this severe was in the 1980s. And then, the federal government stepped in to help.

“The Feds came in and did a huge project on hundreds of thousands of acres,” Skinner says. “They flew five turbines in a V formation, we used tanker loads of malathion and we wiped out the grasshoppers. They were thick, but we wiped them out. This year, nobody wants to do anything.”

Diana Fillmore ranches and lives in southeastern Oregon, as well. As she documents how grasshoppers are wiping out pastures and hay this year, Fillmore reached out to federal officials with APHIS in a plea for help with the grasshopper plague.

“We are talking to county and state officials right now,” Fillmore says. “They cannot believe how bad they are. We hope we can get something accomplished this year.”

In e-mail correspondence, federal APHIS officials told Fillmore there’s nothing that can be done this year to help, as officials say it’s too late. Instead, federal officials say they will focus on next year.

“We can make a difference together on this outbreak, which can last for many years if untreated,” an APHIS official told Fillmore. “What I am saying is that for the survival and viability of our program, optimal timing is crucial. This requires advanced planning that has not yet occurred in your area, or several areas of the state that are now very keen to do something. In order for us to show biologically effective and well measured results, timing is absolutely critical. As soon as we see first hatch in areas with known problems, we need to have everything in place to start the contracting process. Due to the very short development times we are seeing with the rapidly heating springs, our window for opportunity is measured in days and weeks, not months,” the APHIS official told Fillmore.

Grasshoppers are taking over drought-stricken fields all across the North and West.

“Hoppers have taken it down to nothing,” says Trevor Steeke, a Rhame, N.D. producer.

“You can see my 300 acres of barley; all you can see is they’ve eaten it to the ground. There’s nothing left,” Steeke told U.S. Farm Report affiliate KFYR.

In a normal year, Steeke says he would get 1,500 to 3,000 bales on a 1,000-acre field. This year, he baled 53.

“It’s going to be a tough year, a lot of tough decisions are going to have to be made,” Steeke told KFYR.

Culling Cows, Livestock

Steeke already cut his sheep herd from 150 to 38, and in central Wyoming, similar decisions are being made.

“I know people who made some pretty major adjustments real early in May and June because they could see their conditions were bad enough,” says Niels Hansen, a cattle rancher in south-central Wyoming.

Hansen decided several years ago to not keep any cattle during the winter due to limited resources. Instead, he sends his yearlings to market in August and September, but even that’s creating concern this year.

“Some of the rumors that we hear, it looks like a guaranteed loss,” says Hansen in regard to selling cattle this year. “We don’t want to go there. At the same time, we’ve got family farmer-feeders we work with and they’re pretty dependent on our business and they’ve done a good job for us. We’re trying to walk that tightrope.”

Making the situation worse for Oregon ranchers is the fact water is being pulled off hay ground for row crops.

“What worries me as a producer is the long term of this thing,” Skinner says.

Skinner sits on the national Public Lands Council executive committee. He says in talking with producers across the country, his biggest fear is feed costs and availability.

“I’m telling you that this drought situation is so widespread, I’m afraid that just the forage and hay is going to be critical. I don’t see anything other than the fact that people are going to have to start culling their herds pretty quick,” Skinner adds.

Where’s the Water?

Farmers and ranchers in the Klamath River Basin are also dealing with a water crisis . Federal regulators shut off irrigation water to farmers in the reservoir earlier this year.

“Normally, I make about 600 tons [of hay] a year; I sell half of that and the other half goes to my cows. This year, I got 60 tons, so 10% of my normal,” says Ty Kliewer, an Oregon producer and president of the Klamath Irrigation District.

Now, instead of having enough hay to feed, he’s forced to buy feed.

“I’m going to feed all the hay I made, and we’re going to have to feed a lot longer this year. Long story short, I’m looking to buy about 400 tons of hay, if I can find it,” he says.

Just this week, USDA announced it’s investing 15 million in the Klamath River Basin. The money will be used for a new drought pilot program USDA says will provide relief to producers.

“That definitely will help, yes,” Kliewer says. “Is it enough to make people whole? No. But is it enough to hopefully keep people alive? I do think it will definitely help the people here in the basin.”

Emergency Haying and Grazing CRP

Carah Hart, a reporter for Red River Farm Network who covers agriculture in Minnesota, North Dakota and South Dakota, says farmers and ranchers, no matter where they are in the region, are feeling the impacts of drought .

The latest U.S. Drought Monitor shows no improvement in those three states. USDA recently announced it would allow emergency grazing and haying on CRP land, but Hart says even that solution is hitting roadblocks.

“If a county qualifies for emergency haying and grazing CRP ground then it also qualifies for the livestock forage program and only certain CRP practices can be hayed, limiting what’s available,” Hart says.

Under certain circumstances, emergency haying or grazing CRP ground can result in a 25% reduction in CRP payments. While the drought relief isn’t perfect, the issues would take an act of Congress to fix .

“To get permanent changes, people are going to have to make changes to the farm bill,” Hart adds.

While not perfect, Hart says producers such as Jake Thompson of Barnesville, Minn., decided to put up hay on his CRP ground last week , fearing his severe drought conditions could become worse.

“He’s trying to get what he can,” Hart says. “He’s not just going to keep that for himself. He’s got cattle to feed, some cow-calf pairs, but he also has in-laws in North Dakota, I think, who are going to be using some of that.”

From the drought-stricken fields in the west to Capitol Hill, calls for help continue, as the drought situation grows more desperate by the day.

5 Ways To Be A Better Scout

Wed, 20 Jul 2022 20:26:14 GMT

With wet conditions, late planting and an overall rocky start, the scouting stakes are high this year. A critical eye will help see your crop through to harvest. These five tips will help you use technology to make your scouting efforts more effective.

Think of In-Season Record Collection as a Tool for Scouting

Your data set should cover all the basics of who, what, when and how of all field operations, application passes and observations.

“It’s important to have accurate records, so when you’re scouting the information is at hand and you can make sense of a weed break or stand count issues,” explains Scott Cogdill, Proagrica Agronomy Solutions director.

Keep the Process Simple and Transparent

Cogdill says there’s no reason to overthink the scouting process. For example, the first step before heading to the field is to prepare all of the information.

“The value in your scouting tools comes from the person being able to use them,” he says. “There’s nothing worse than trying to find information and get it organized next to a cornfield.”

Set the minimum requirements you want collected, and be transparent about those expectations if someone else is scouting.

“Dropping a pin that says ‘waterhemp’ doesn’t mean anything. But by adding the weed height and some other details, it does mean something.” Cogdill says.

Use Data to Prioritize Field Order

“Having a baseline of data helps you know what fields will need scouting first,” Cogdill says. “Remote imagery can also help you know what fields need to have a human eye put on them.”

Assemble the Right Team and Leader

According to Farm Journal Field Agronomist Ken Ferrie, farms with a designated pest boss (one person in charge of countering all crop threats) do a better, more timely job of pest control. And the quickest way to identify a good and effective pest boss is by how well they keep records.

“The best pest bosses know thorough record keeping is essential to pest management,” Ferrie says.

In-season, the pest boss might not be able to visit every field in a timely manner, but other individuals can scout and make sure that the resulting data is readily available to the pest boss and others who might benefit from it.

Bad Data Means Wasted Time

“When you don’t account for field history, you’re misusing time and losing efficiency,” Cogdill says. “Having the full picture gives you access to the core issue so it’s not misidentified.”

For future reference, take pictures.

“It’s just as important to know where a herbicide failed as where it worked,” Ferrie says. “Your record of observations and pictures is what enables you to accomplish things with your plan next season.”

Make Pest Scouting a Priority in 2022

Wed, 20 Jul 2022 20:06:20 GMT

Scouting ﬁelds for pest problems is a vital component of crop health and yield outcome. “Yet too many producers don’t rank scouting high enough on their list of priori-ties,” says Ken Ferrie, Farm Journal Field Agronomist. “Don’t let that be the case on your farm. Think about pest control as an investment in protecting your crops.” Mid-west entomologists report these pests invaded fields this year. They encourage farm-ers to monitor for them in 2022 to determine treatment options.

BROWN STINK BUG

Adult: Broad, flat, shield-shaped bugs that are brown on top with a yellowish underside. About ½" long.
Nymphs: Look similar to adults but lack wings.
Eggs: Round, laid in clusters and orange with a ring of white hairlike structures on the top.
Timing of damage: VE to R3
Type of damage: Holes in the leaves that are often ringed in yellow. Tillering, wilting and plant death can also occur.
Scouting: Examine 20 consecutive plants in each of five different locations in the field (100 plants total). Record per-centage of damaged plants and level of infestation.

CORN ROOTWORM

(Western and Northern)

Adult: Western: Small yellow bug with three black stripes on the forewings. Northern: Small bug; color varies from cream to pale green.
Larvae: Slender, about ½" long and white with a brown head and dark spot on the posterior end.
Eggs: White, football-shaped and very tiny.
Timing of damage: V8 to R5
Type of damage: Larvae feed on and tunnel into roots. Adults feed on and clip corn silks.
Scouting: For larvae, dig up 10 randomly chosen plants and check soil for rootworms. For adults, count the number of beetles on five plants each in five separate locations.

FALL ARMYWORM

Adult: Gray and brown moth. Forewings are marked with triangular white spots.
Larvae: Smooth-skinned caterpillar, ranging in color from light tan or green to black with three light yellow stripes down the back and a white inverted “Y” on the front of its brown head.
Eggs: Dome-shaped with a flattened surface and a rounded point at the tip. Female covers the egg mass with a layer of gray scales.
Timing of damage: V12 to R6
Type of damage: Primarily feeding on the leaves and whorl but later larvae will move to the tassel and young ears.
Scouting: Check for damage on about 20 consecutive plants in five separate locations.

SLUG

Adult: Slimy, soft-bodied, gray or mottled, legless mollusk.
Larvae: Like adults but smaller.
Eggs: Clusters of eight to 60 clear jellylike eggs laid on the ground in sheltered areas.
Timing of damage: VE to V8
Type of damage: Ragged holes in leaves or leaves that appear shredded, starting with the lower plant. Look for silvery slime trails on leaves or ground; this is a telltale sign of slugs.
Scouting: Examine 20 plants in five separate locations. Note the number of damaged plants and estimate the percent-age of defoliation.

SOYBEAN GALL MIDGE

Adult: Tiny (1/10"), delicate flies with slender bodies, mottled wings, long legs banded with an alternating light and dark color pattern and orange abdomen.
Larvae: Small and legless maggot-like larvae, clear to white-colored when young, turning bright orange as they ma-ture.
Timing of damage: V2
Type of damage: Wilting or dead soybeans along field edges with decreasing damage into the center of the field is usu-ally the first sign of infestation. Look for dark discoloration at the base of the stem. Heavily infested plants eventually wilt and die.
Scouting: Look for eggs at the base of soybean plants or darkened and swollen soybean stems.

SEEDCORN MAGGOT

Adult: Small, gray, bristly fly with black legs. It is less than ¼" long.
Larvae: White to yellow-white maggot with tough skin, pointed head and round tail.
Eggs: Laid singly or in clusters in moist soil; each female lays an average of 270 eggs.
Timing of damage: VE to V4
Type of damage: Maggots burrow into seeds and eat the germs, reducing stands.
Scouting: Dig up un-germinated seeds and look for maggots.

JAPANESE BEETLE

Adult: Metallic green beetle with bronze wing covers, about ½" long. Six tufts of white hair on each side of the abdomen just below the wing covers.
Larvae: Grubs are creamy white with a brown head capsule, C-shaped and about 1" long.
Eggs: White to translucent, small and elliptical to spherical in shape.
Timing of damage: VE to R8
Type of damage: Adults skeletonize leaves. Larvae feed on roots.
Scouting: Examine five plants in five locations to determine percentage of defoliation.

Pests Proved Costly in 2021 with Grasshoppers and Fall Armyworms Wiping Out Entire Fields Across U.S.

Wed, 20 Jul 2022 20:05:54 GMT

As drought plagued the West and Plains in 2021, grasshoppers took over many pastures and crops, which demolished grasses and hayfields.

“It’s so widespread, that I’m afraid it’s going to be pretty devastating to the industry,” southeast Oregon rancher Bob Skinner told U.S. Farm Report this past summer.

Conditions were so dire, Skinner had to pull his cattle off of federal BLM land a month and a half early, which was a hard decision considering the land is vital for grazing and feed.

“There’s no pasture anywhere, period, around here,” said Skinner. “It doesn’t matter where you go, or how much you pay for it. You can’t find pasture. So, you couple that with the drought and the grasshoppers, the lack of hay, I just don’t see anything good coming out of this thing.”

Grasshoppers Demolished Hay

A swarm of grasshoppers was a common scene across parts of Oregon, Montana and North Dakota this past year.

AgDay and U.S. Farm Report affiliate KFYR spoke about the problem with Trevor Steeke, a rancher in North Dakota. As Steeke chronicled the grasshopper damage, he said it was the first time he had seen something that extreme in his 25 years of ranching.

“They’re eating it down to nothing,” Steeke told KFYR. “You can see my 300 acres of barley, all you can see is they’ve eaten it to the ground. There’s nothing left.”

In a normal year, Steeke would get 1,500 to 3,000 bales from a 1,000-acre field. This year, he baled 53.

“It’s going to be a tough year, a lot of tough decisions are going to have to be made,” said Steeke.

A First for Fall Armyworms

In the South, farmers and ranchers battled a different type of pest.

“This fall, the armyworm outbreak is the worst I’ve seen in my career,” said Gus Lorenz, Extension entomologist for the University of Arkansas system Division of Agriculture.

What are other “Unspoken Truth About Pests”? The Farm Journal team digs into more details here.

The fall armyworm outbreak in Arkansas was one for the record books, as Arkansas farmers and entomologists worked to battle pests, 2021 was the “perfect storm” in the worst way.

“It’s from one end to the state to the other. All four directions. It’s bad everywhere,” said Lorenz in early summer. “They don’t call it fall armyworm for nothing. It usually strikes us late but this year, it started early. I’ve never seen so many fall armyworms. Anywhere you go there, everybody’s got fall armyworms.”

“In soybeans, yield losses from it vary,” said Ben Thrash, Extension entomologist for the University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture system. “A lot of times on late-planted stuff, it can range up to about 30% to 35% yield loss from defoliation on those small soybeans. Now you get later in the growing season in reproductive soybeans, and it can be a lot higher than even that.”

Ohio Farmers Faced with Unusual Battle

In early summer, Lorenz warned that the Midwest could face a similar outbreak, and that’s exactly what some areas saw. The infestation of fall armyworms was something farmers and entomologists in northern Ohio faced for the first time in their careers.

“We’ve never seen the fall armyworm really much at all before here in the fall,” Curtis Young, an entomologist and Ohio State University agricultural Extension educator for Van Wert County, Ohio, told U.S. Farm Report in early fall. “That’s what’s throwing everybody kind of for a loop.”

Since the area had never faced an armyworm problem, it was a pest they didn’t know to scout until it was too late.

“This is a 20-acre field, and they took it out in eight to 10 hours,” said Deshler, Ohio, farmer Nick Elchinger.

The Elchingers scouted an alfalfa field on Friday and saw no feeding. By Sunday, they said the entire field was gone.

“The armyworms just started along the edges of the field and then started to work their way in. And then this field, in particular, they started along the backside, and just within a matter of eight to 10 hours, they made their way across this whole field and wiped it out,” he said.

Young says by the time producers knew they had a problem on their hands, the caterpillars were too big for insecticides to effectively control.

“Suddenly, the caterpillars got large enough that they were stripping the foliage off of all kinds of plants in 24 to 48 hours,” said Young.

2021 was full of pest challenges as grasshoppers and armyworms robbed producers of crops and hay. It proved to be an unusual and costly year for pests. Now, producers are working to be prepared for pest issues in 2022.

Unspoken Truths About Pests: Wireworms

Wed, 20 Jul 2022 20:00:10 GMT

Look for signs of this early-season nuisance this spring

A Houdini of pests, the meager wireworm can be an unwanted guest for multiple crop seasons. Often called a secondary pest, this worm-then-beetle can stop crops in their tracks by snacking on seeds and seedlings.

The life cycle of wireworms can last four to seven years. Their various stages include:

Eggs. Tiny white globules in soil.
Larvae. Slender brownish worms that reach about 1½" long.
Adult. Click beetles are long and skinny with rounded fronts and ends. Depending on the species, they range in size from 1/4" to 1½".

“Adult wireworms, which are known as click beetles, are not damaging to crops,” says Jeff Whitworth, Kansas State University entomology professor. “It’s in the larvae stage they do damage at ground level or below.”

MULTIYEAR DAMAGE

Wireworms feed on seed or seedlings of corn, soybeans, sorghum and other field crops. They can completely hollow out seeds or cut off the small roots of young plants. This results in gaps in rows or stunted plants.

Damage by first-year wireworms is typically minor, but that can change in subsequent years, which is when economic damage tends to occur.

“The fields where we have more trouble with wireworms are ones with lots of crop residue, no-till or reduced tillage,” Whitworth says. “The larvae can burrow 1' deep, following moisture and temperature gradients.”

In corn, insecticide seed treatments provide great control of wireworms. But that control only lasts 21 to 28 days after planting, Whitworth says.

“If wireworms are deeper in the soil at planting, they can come up and feed on seed and roots,” he says.

SAMPLE BEFORE PLANTING

If you’ve faced wireworm damage in previous years, sample fields before planting. Ken Ferrie, Farm Journal Field Agronomist, recommends using yield maps and aerial images from previous corn crops to identify problem areas and set bait stations.

Pay particular attention to sides of hills and small rises within fields, which tend to warm up first.

In those areas, Ferrie says to dig a few small holes in the soil and throw in handfuls of wheat and corn. Then, cover the holes with some black plastic to concentrate the heat units and speed up grain decomposition, which will attract the pest.

“Dig up that area and see if there are wireworms present,” Ferrie says. “If you find one wireworm per bait station, you’d better implement a plan to protect your crop.”

If a field has had wireworm problems, plant it last. Warmer soil leads to faster germination and growth, which reduce the amount of damage.

“Once a crop is established, wireworms can still feed on crops, but it won’t affect them,” Whitworth says. “It is all about timing of the crop.”

Soybeans, sorghum and other crops don’t tend to have the common wireworm insecticide seed treatment, he adds. If you have high wireworm samples, make sure you select seed with that protection.

For fields with wireworm damage, replanting might be necessary. Generally, Whitworth notes, the damage is contained to a small part of the field. If you do replant, wait for warmer soil temperatures, which lead to faster germination and crop growth.

Fast Facts About Wireworms
The connection between a click beetle’s first and second section of the thorax is flexible, so they can move their heads and first pair of legs separately from the rest of the body. This lets them snap the two sections, making a loud click sound, and flip themselves over if they are lying on their backs.

The life cycle of certain wireworm species can last from four to seven years.

Wireworm larva can live two to six years in the soil, feeding on roots of weeds, grasses and other crops. Adults can live for 12 months.

Infrequent soil disturbance gives wireworms a chance to develop and survive.

Outdoor lights attract click beetles at night. If you see numerous small beetles on the ground and some are flipping themselves into the air, you might want to use bait stations for wireworms a month or so prior to planting any nearby fields.

The several species of click beetles are distributed across the globe.

Read more from the Unspoken Truths About Pests series .

Unspoken Truths About Drought-Loving Pests

Wed, 20 Jul 2022 20:00:10 GMT

Last year showed how dry conditions create the perfect playground for a few yield-robbing pests. The conditions could be ripe again for drought-loving pests to emerge.

When corn or soybean plants are stressed due to a lack of moisture, they are more susceptible to pest damage, says Julie Peterson, University of Nebraska Extension entomologist.

“The insects see a plant is weak and attack,” she says. “Or sometimes the hot and dry conditions can be more favorable for the pest.”

In other cases, beneficial insects, which keep pests in check, don’t do as well when it’s hot and dry, so the troublesome pests increase in numbers or simply do more damage.

As of late January, 70% of the U.S. was experiencing abnormally dry conditions — with 55% of the U.S. at moderate drought levels. Peterson says if droughty conditions continue, they could invite in two key pests: grasshoppers and spider mites.

Nearly 400 species of grasshoppers inhabit the 17 western states. They feed on grasses and weeds and often move to cultivated crops.

“Grasshoppers are more likely to move into irrigated crops when surrounding grassy areas and pastures start to get dry,” Peterson says. “You want to be looking at field edges and margins outside your field. If you see them, they will likely move in.”

In corn fields, grasshoppers will chew on leaves and cause defoliation.

“Based on the stage your crop is, it can withstand different levels of defoliation,” Peterson says. “Depending on the growth size of crops, you have a few different economic thresholds in terms of treatment.”

YOU MITE HAVE A PROBLEM

Spider mites are another big group of pests to worry about, Peterson says. In Nebraska, farmers face two kinds of spider mites: two-spotted spider mites and Banks grass mites.

They cause damage by piercing

leaf cell walls with their mouths and sucking out the cell’s contents.

“It is really important to know which species you have, as that will drive the treatment decisions,” Peterson says. “With insecticides and miticides, you want to make sure they work on the stage of mite you have.”

As soon as your crops experience drought stress, start scouting, Peterson says. “Always scout before you do any kind of insecticide applications.”

BANKS GRASS MITE

Adult: Orange-colored spider mites that become green after feeding and have two dark spots that show through the transparent body.
Nymphs: Light to dark green with six to eight legs.
Eggs: White, round and laid in webbing on the underside of leaves.
Timing of damage: V3 to R3
Type of damage: Yellowing or spotting of leaf tissue. Severe cases can lead to leaf death.
Scouting: Examine leaves of at least 10 plants in different locations of the field. Check for mite presence and record the number of infested leaves and the number of green leaves per plant.

TWO-SPOTTED SPIDER MITE

Adult: Mite that is tiny and oval in shape. Ranges in color from orange-red to green to translucent. Body contents are often visible through the body wall, looking like two dark spots.
Nymphs: Similar to adults but with four legs instead of eight.
Eggs: Round, clear and attached to fine silk webbing on the undersides of leaves.
Timing of damage: VT to R5
Type of damage: Yellowing and defoliation of the leaves.
Scouting: Use a hand lens to check undersides of leaves for eggs, mites and webbing.

All life stages of mites can be present at any given time, and there can be seven to 10 generations during the growing season.

GRASSHOPPER

Adult: Yellowish brown or gray with wings and unique chevron-like black marks on the back legs. Can grow to 1¾" long.
Nymphs: Resemble the adults but lack wings.
Eggs: Brown to orange, elongated and found glued together in masses about 1" to 2" below the surface in uncultivated soil.
Timing of damage: V8 to R6
Type of damage: Leaves will be chewed away from the outer edges inward. Fresh silks will also be eaten.
Scouting: Estimate the level of damage and number of grasshoppers per square yard in five locations. Damage is typically along field borders, but move beyond borders when scouting.

Each species of grasshopper produces its own unique sound and language.

Unspoken Truths About Pests: Slugs

Wed, 20 Jul 2022 20:00:10 GMT

Look for signs of this troublesome mollusk this spring

They’re slithery, slimy and they love to make a smorgasbord of your crops. The drab and inconspicuous slug continues to increase its rank of pests you should scout for and monitor in your corn and soybean fields.

“Slugs are actually not an insect; they are a mollusk,” says Nick Seiter, University of Illinois Extension field crops entomologist. “That has real implications for how they behave, their life cycles and ultimately how we manage them.”

Slugs are soft-bodied and legless. They are white, gray or black and can range in size from ½" to 4". They overwinter as eggs in fields and hatch during the spring. Since they are nocturnal, they attack fields at night or on cloudy days. During the day they often hide under soil clods and crop residue. Their main food source is decaying organic matter and plant foliage.

What attracts slugs to your fields? Cool and wet conditions, Seiter says. Related, reduced tillage, no-till and certain cover crop systems can lead to larger slug populations.

“Cool conditions that slow crop development will give slugs more time to do damage to crops and ultimately reduce the crop stand,” he says. “Where we especially see issues with slugs is in soybeans. They really like to feed on those germinating seeds and on the cotyledons.”

LOOK FOR SLIME

Slugs feed on crops within a month of planting. They either eat seeds or scrape the surface of plant tissue, causing a shredded appearance.

“The feeding can often be mistaken for flea beetle feeding in corn,” says Marc Eads, owner of Spearhead Agriculture and Management. “They do most of their damage in the early part of the growing season.”

Slugs secrete a protective layer of slime over their bodies. Look for silver slime trails on plants and on the ground, as this is a telltale sign of pests. Signs of slugs are often apparent before you actually see them.

In corn, slug damage is common from VE to V8. In soybeans, damage typically occurs VE to V2. To scout, examine 20 plants in ﬁve separate locations. Note the number of damaged plants and estimate the percentage of defoliation.

SLOW THE SLUGS

Managing slugs is difficult because of their uniqueness and a lack of effective chemical treatments.

“Insecticides are not effective,” Seiter says. “In fact, an insecticide may hurt some of the beneficial insects in your fields. There are some slug-specific baits, but they tend to be expensive and hard to find.”

While the pest is troublesome, there is no actual economic threshold. If you have extensive slug damage that reduces your crop stand, he says, replanting might be necessary. If that’s the case, hold off on replanting until soil dries out and warms up, which will reduce the slug population.

Tillage disturbs their habitat and can decrease your risk of replant.

“The most reliable management tactic for slugs is to plant into a warm, dry seedbed, which is not always an option,” Seiter says. “However, by understanding conditions that are likely to lead to slug problems, you can be better prepared to address them when and where they occur.”

Fast Facts About Slow Slugs

Slugs are essentially shell-less snails — they actually have a remnant of the shell within their body.
A hermaphrodite, slugs are both male and female at the same time.
Slugs have four tentacles: two eyes and two antennae.
The slimy mucus slugs secrete aids them in locomotion.
Because they’re soft-bodied with no shell, top predators include frogs, snakes, birds, beetles, spiders and more.

Read more in the Unspoken Truths About Pests series .

Unspoken Truths About Pests: Down The Vole Hole

Wed, 20 Jul 2022 20:00:10 GMT

Ground squirrels and voles take tiny bites from soybean fields. The slow bleed over successive seasons is often considered part of the cost of farming, particularly in no-till ground. But, more worrisome than yield loss is an un-comfortable numbers game: Rodent depredation on some Midwest farms is increasing.

Three central Illinois soybean farmers describe their field dynamics related to consistent ground squirrel and vole presence, and voice concerns over population growth.

EXCESSIVE SPREADING

In central Illinois’ DeWitt County, Don Schlesinger is pestered by the growing persistence of ground squirrels. Schlesinger has grown no-till corn and soybeans since 1990 and has consistently experienced a degree of ground squirrel presence, but over the past five years, the population has jumped.

“All I know is they’re becoming more prevalent,” he says. “No question. They’ve gotten worse over time and once they settle one colony, they move off and form a new colony and move right across a field.”

The ground squirrels dig out dens within Schlesinger’s soybean fields and devour seeds. “In spring, they eat my seeds and leave pockets between 6' to 20' across. They take every seed in the area and that hole fills with grass and weeds. We’ll try and shoot them, or some people put out poison baits, but they keep spreading.”

Tillage to break up dens and destroy tunnels is contrary to Schlesinger’s agronomic system, but he is considering an exception, entirely due to ground squirrels.

“We’ll probably have to do some tillage to break their runs and colonies,” he says. “This problem is not unique to me, my no-till neighbors are in the same situation.”

NUISANCE YOU CAN’T IGNORE

Voles, along with ground squirrels, are a constant thorn for DeWitt County producer Bob Kuntz. Bare spots in his no-till soybean fields are plain testament to growing rodent pressure, he explains.

“I’ve got voles and ground squirrels, and they have been here forever, but in the past 10 years or so, they are really spreading,” he says. “You can put out poison baits or try and shoot the ground squirrels, but if you’re on no-till or min-imum-till, you can only do so much to stop them.”

Kuntz says voles and ground squirrels are a nuisance he can no longer afford to ignore. “It’s not something to hurt your crop overall, but it’s a steady small loss, and something that gets more and more of my attention as they keep spreading.”

ANNIHILATE EVERY SEED

A half hour north of Bloomington, Ill., in Livingston County, Doug Raber grows no-till soybeans and strip-till corn. Over the past 15 years, corresponding with no-till soybean production, Raber has noted increased vole numbers.

“In spring, they annihilate every seed within a 5' to 10' radius of their hole in a field,” he describes.

His fields, pockmarked by pockets of vole depredation, are not cost-effective to replant. A particular 80-acre field contains the heaviest vole presence: “I’d estimate 75 5’x5' vole areas according to drone footage. That is 75 multiplied by 25 sq. ft., for a total of 1,875 in the field — just 4% of a single acre.”

The present yield loss to voles is minor to Raber, but the long-term question holds weight: “Is this going to get worse? I sure don’t want to chisel because that is counter to my setup, but vole numbers are definitely something to keep my eye on.” FJ

Unspoken Truths About Pests: Armyworms

Wed, 20 Jul 2022 20:00:10 GMT

This pest can cost you 15% to 50% in yield loss

Fields wiped out in a matter of hours. Pests marching from grasses and weeds as host plants and into farm fields and pastures. In the 40 years Gus Lorenz has focused on pests, 2021 marks a first.

“This fall armyworm outbreak is the worst I’ve seen in my career,” says Lorenz, University of Arkansas Extension entomologist. “It’s not just rice, it’s really bad in soybeans. We see a few in cotton, and they’re in grain sorghum and even eating corn.”

A PERFECT STORM

This year has been the “perfect storm” in the worst way for the pest, Lorenz says. Torrential rains in May and June caused flooded fields, forcing farmers to replant late. Weedy fields also are the perfect home for destructive armyworms.

“They don’t call them fall armyworm for nothing,” Lorenz says. “They usually strike late, but this year they started early. Everybody‘s got fall armyworms.”

While the late-season pest showed up early in Arkansas, they quietly migrated in masses to the Midwest. Ohio farmers, for instance, have seen historical widespread damage. Curtis Young, entomologist and agricultural Extension educator for Van Wert County, Ohio, says the issue blanketed the state at the end of August and beginning of September.

“They had a huge emergence of adults when a weather front came through that sucked them up into the jet stream and deposited them in the northern states,” Young says, “so, Indiana, Illinois, Ohio, etc., all got a good dose of them from a weather front.”

While the alfalfa seems to be the biggest victim to armyworms in Ohio, they are also decimating cover crops, turf grass, sorghum and all forages.

“The moth actually has upward of 300 different types of plants it will feed and thrive on,” Young says. “We weren‘t aware we were supposed to be scouting for them this year, and what really set it off was suddenly the caterpillars got large enough they were stripping the foliage off of all kinds of plants in 24 to 48 hours.”

Before farmers and agronomists even knew to scout, the armyworms had already latched on to fields across the state, with some farmers reporting widespread field damage in just a matter of hours, with alfalfa fields and turf turning brown overnight.

“There’s about a 10"-to-15" swath in the back of a field that was starting to get eaten up pretty bad, and then within eight to 10 hours, the armyworms had completely gone over this whole field,” says Nick Elchinger, a farmer in Deshler, Ohio. “They move very fast when they’re thick.”

Scouting for the insect can be difficult, Young says. While you might not notice feeding in the beginning, armyworms can lurk in fields, hanging on to foliage at an angle that is hard to spot when scouting from above.

WILL PROBLEMS LINGER?

What’s the best way to stop armyworms? Mother Nature and a hard freeze. Young says that will kill development of a pest that doesn’t overwinter in northern states.

“We need to watch late-season crops, such as cover crops, winter wheat and forage crops, until we finally get a hard freeze that will stop the population that is here now,” he says. “They just came out of the blue, and now we’ll be prepared to look for them in the future.”

Unspoken Truths About Pests: Soybean Aphids

Wed, 08 Jun 2022 13:34:03 GMT

Be on the lookout for this mother of clones

Imagine a pest that can arrive unannounced, suck your soybean plants dry and then double in numbers in two days. Behold the soybean aphid. This native of Eastern Asia can pack a heavy punch and knock the top of your soybean yields.

Adult soybean aphids are small (less than 1/16" in length), yellow- bodied insects with distinct black cornicles or “tailpipes.” They can be either winged or wingless.

“The soybean aphid is highly variable and erratic,” says Erin Hodgson , Iowa State University Extension entomologist. “Almost every year we can find soybean aphids, but certain conditions make them go exponential and need treatment.”

EXOTIC ENEMY

Soybean aphids lay their eggs in the fall on shrubs called buckthorn. In the spring, they hatch into winged females, which move into soybeans. This is when the pest goes wild.

“The mother can clone itself during in the summer,” says Christian Krupke , Purdue University entomologist. “The clones develop inside the mom, and as long as there is sufficient food, good environmental conditions and few predators, she’ll crank out daughters.”

During this time, aphid populations can grow and even double in two to three days. As these mobs of clones expand, they suck sap out of soybeans, which stunts growth and canopy development. Some leaves might turn gray or black due to mold that grows on the aphid excretions.

Depending on the severity of the soybean aphid population in a field, historical yield losses have ranged from 10% to 15% , Krupke says.

SEND IN THE SCOUTS

Because soybean aphids are an erratic pest that can quickly multiply, control is centered on proper scouting. To assess your fields, check 20 plants in various locations and determine the average number of aphids per plant. The economic threshold is 250 aphids per plant in growth stages R1 to R6.

“That’s quite a few aphids,” Krupke says. “This number is an economic threshold, and it is designed to be below the yield loss level — in other words, it gives you time to apply an insecticide before you lose yield.”

When scouting, Hodgson recommends these tips:

Focus on the new growth for signs of aphids.
Look on the undersides of leaves.
Ants or ladybeetles can be signs soybean aphids are present.

If you spray, strive for 100% kill with applications.

“They are all females giving births to asexual clones,” Hodgson says. “So, you want to eliminate as many as you can. You can hopefully get to that with uniform coverage, high volume and pressure when spraying. To know if it was a profitable application, leave an untreated test strip to evaluate.”

KNOW YOUR RISK LEVEL

Soybean aphids were the No. 1 soybean pest for several years in the early 2000s. However, they now tend to be more of a pest in northern soybean-growing states.

“They don’t do well when it’s hot, and we’ve had hotter summers in the Midwest,” Krupke says. “Plus, their natural enemies, such as the Asian ladybird beetles and a range of diseases, have caught up with them.”

Soybean aphids can migrate during the season via prevailing winds. If you hear of large outbreaks in northern states, be ready, Krupke says.

Read More from the Unspoken Truths About Pests series in Farm Journal.

Sara Schafer knows asking good questions creates the most useful stories. She uses her Missouri farm roots to cover innovative operations, business topics and more.