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Answers about insects in crops
Here some of the tested and peer-reviewed recommendations for eradicating weeds from crops.
Scouting Early Season Corn Can Save Your Crop
- Ashley Dean with Iowa State University Extension
- Early-season pests like white grubs, wireworms, seedcorn maggots, and black cutworms that can impact stand establishment.
- How to monitor for migratory insects like black cutworms and true armyworms.
- Management strategies, including seed treatments, soil-applied insecticides, and foliar insecticides.
- Persistent pests like corn rootworms and their impact on root systems and yield. Regional variations in insect pressures across Iowa.
- Emerging insect threats, such as the soybean gall midge and increased stink bug populations.
- The importance of late-season scouting for ear-feeding pests like corn earworms, fall armyworms, and European corn borers.
Some major insect pests affecting Tennessee and the mid-south corn crops include wireworms, white grubs, sugarcane beetles, and cutworms. These insects can cause significant damage, especially in no-till farming practices standard in the region.
Dr. Sebe Brown recommends using quality seed treatments, such as Poncho 500 or Poncho 1250, to protect corn seeds from below-ground insect pressure.
Proper seed treatment is crucial, especially in fields with a history of corn production or in virgin ground.
Rotating crops can help reduce insect pressure.
Dr. Brown notes that the worst infestations often occur when corn is planted after corn for several consecutive years.
Rotating with other crops like wheat, soybeans, or cotton can help mitigate below-ground insect issues.
Once corn emerges, producers should scout for potential pests like corn borers, which can be yield-limiting in non-Bt corn.
Treatment windows for corn borers typically range from tasseling to the dent stage, with the most critical time around tasseling.
Slugs have become a significant problem recently, particularly in no-till soybean fields.