Category Archives: Pest Group

Fall Field Day at the Eastern Shore AREC in Painter on Sep. 23, 2009

There will be an informal field day at Virginia Tech’s Eastern Shore AREC on Sep. 23, 2009 at 9:00 AM. The field day will showcase disease control trials in vegetables and field crops. Other trial work at the research station will also be displayed if interested. If you are interested in more information or will be attending the field day please email Steve Rideout at srideout@vt.edu. Thanks

Eastern Shore Insect Trap Counts for Week ending Sept 11

Insect Trap Counts for the Eastern Shore for Week ending Sept 11
In general moth activity has dropped off considerably this week.
The Blacklight trap counts for this week were as follows: David Long (Cape Charles) = 10 corn earworm (down from last week), 3 beet armyworm, 0 fall armyworm (low), 0 brown stink bug, 1 green stink bug (very low). Blacklight trap – Mark Colson (Eastville) = 9 corn earworm, 6 beet armyworm (drop), 2 Fall armyworm; 2 green stink bugs, 0 brown stink bugs. Blacklight trap Painter = 7 corn earworm moths (drop), 1 green stink bugs, 0 brown stink bugs. ******************************************Corn earworm Pheromone Traps (weekly catch): Keller = 0; Tasley = 0; Modesttown = 15 (moderate); New Church = 1; Horntown = 0; Eastville = 6 (drop); Machipongo = 9 (drop); Painter = 7 (drop); Guilford = 0. Beet armyworm Pheromone traps (weekly catch): Modestown = 5; New Church = 2; Horntown = 14; Machipongo = 52 (drop, but still active); Painter = 31 (rise). Fall armyworm pheromone traps (weekly catch): Painter: 21 (moderate); Newman – Eastville: 1; Hortntown: 4. ****************************************************************************************Summary, corn earworm moth activity appears to be finally dropping off on the Eastern Shore. The moths are on the decline in Northampton County and lower Accomack. However, larval activity in tomatoes, cotton, soybeans, green beans, and lima beans is probably quite active if insecticide sprays were not applied over the past couple weeks – during the heavy flights. Beet armyworm moth activity has dropped in Northampton County, but remains moderate in the Machipongo location. Stink bug adult activity appears to be done for the season. Heavy rains like we’ve recently experienced on the Eastern Shore will often finish off the pest outbreaks of number of insect species, particularly caterpillar or “worm” pests. In additon to washing small larvae off of plants, heavy precipitation often will trigger high mortality from insect disease pathogens such as fungi and bacteria. This natural control may save growers an insecticide spray.

Insect Trap Counts for the Eastern Shore for Week ending Sept 4

Insect Trap Counts for Eastern Shore – Week ending Sept 4.
In general, catches of 7 or more moths per week indicate an activity alert for scouting for that pest.
The Blacklight trap counts for this week were as follows: David Long (Cape
Charles) = 33 corn earworm (down from last week), 8 beet armyworm (small rise), 1 fall armyworm (low), 1 brown stink bug, 1 green stink bug (very low).
Blacklight trap – Mark Colson (Eastville) = 46 corn earworm (same as last week), 0 beet armyworm (drop), 0 Fall armyworn (low); 8 green stink bugs, 4 brown stink bugs (drop). Blacklight trap Painter = 15 corn earworm moths (drop), 31 green stink bugs (still active), 5 brown stink bugs (low).
******************************************Corn earworm Pheromone Traps (weekly
catch): Keller = 0; Tasley = 2 (drop); Modesttown = 27 (moderate); New Church = 1; Horntown = 16 (moderate); Eastville = 19 (big drop); Machipongo =
24 (drop); Painter = 22 (drop); Guilford = 2(low). Beet armyworm Pheromone traps (weekly catch): Modestown = 3; New Church = 2; Horntown = 2; Machipongo =
162 (remaining high); Painter = 14 (drop). Fall armyworm pheromone traps (weekly
catch): Painter: 23 (rise); Newman – Eastville: 3; Hortntown: 0 (low everywhere) ****************************************************************************************Summary,
corn earworm moth activity appears to be finally dropping off on the Eastern Shore. The moths are on the decline in Northampton County and lower Accomack. However, larval activity in tomatoes, cotton, soybeans, green beans, and lima beans is probably quite active if insecticide sprays were not applied over the past couple weeks – during the heavy flights. Beet armyworm remains quite active in the Machipongo location, but still, very few moths appear to be found outside that area on the Shore.
Stink bug catch appears to have dropped off.
Sybean loopers were detected in soybeans in Northampton County. These caterpillars can cause a lot of late-season defoliation, and are sometimes difficult to kill. Some years, there is pyrethroid resistance problems with that insect pest species.
In addition, soybean aphids can still be found on some soybeans on the Eastern Shore, particularly in Accomack County. These insects should probably not be the driving force behind spraying your soybeans. Targeting corn earworms after egg hatch and before pods harden is critical to maximizing yield loss from insects.

Soybean aphid update

Looks like soybean aphids are not done yet in Virginia. And, I received a call today about a possible threshold situation in northeast North Carolina. Growers have treated some fields in the areas where thresholds were met last week. We have learned of a new area in King George County where aphids have exceeded thresholds, in a very late planted field, in about the R3-R4 growth stage. We are having a cooling trend which will favor these critters, and will slow bean maturity. Unless we can come up with some ’emergency’ funds, we have to discontinue our scouting program at the end of next week. We really need to go for at least 2 or 3 weeks. By then, the double crop will have reached the safe stage (R6).

Insect Trap Counts for Eastern Shore – Week ending Aug 29

Insect Trap Counts for Eastern Shore – Week ending Aug 29.
In general, catches of 7 or more moths per week indicate an activity alert for scouting for that pest.
The Blacklight trap counts for this week were as follows: David Long (Cape
Charles) = 93 corn earworm (remaining high), 16 beet armyworm (small rise), 4 fall armyworm (low), 1 brown stink bugs, 6 green stink bugs (very low).
Blacklight trap – Mark Colson (Eastville) = 47 corn earworm (decrease), 10 beet armyworm (small rise), 1 Fall armyworn (low); 17 green stink bugs, 9 brown stink bugs (drop). Blacklight trap Painter = 26 corn earworm moths (mod. low), 22 green stink bugs (big drop), 2 brown stink bugs (drop).
******************************************Corn earworm Pheromone Traps (weekly
catch): Keller = 3; Tasley = 13 (rise); Modesttown = 56 (big rise); New Church = 2; Horntown = 42 (big rise); Eastville = 177 (high and rising); Machipongo =
54 (drop); Painter = 69 (rise); Guilford = 5(low). Beet armyworm Pheromone traps (weekly catch): Modestown = 3; New Church = 3; Horntown = 4; Machipongo =
91 (remaining high); Painter = 29 (rise). Fall armyworm pheromone traps (weekly
catch): Painter: 1; Newman – Eastville: 6; Hortntown: 4 (low everywhere) ****************************************************************************************Summary,
corn earworm moth remains active on the Eastern Shore and additional egg laying on crops is likely. As mentioned previously, trap catches of 7 or more moths per week indicate the need for intensive scouting of crops for the pests.
Tomatoes, cotton, soybeans, green beans, and lima beans are important susceptible host crops on the Eastern Shore. Beet armyworm remains active in the Machipongo location, but few moths appear to be found outside that area.
Stink bug catch appears to have dropped off, and not much activity has been seen in soybeans. Soybean aphids can be found on some soybeans on the Eastern Shore, particularly in Accomack County. These insects should probably not be the driving force behind spraying your soybeans. Targeting corn earworms after egg hatch and before pods harden is critical to maximizing yield loss from insects. Most pyrethroid insecticides will control corn earworm as well as the other pests including soybean aphids, stink bugs, grasshoppers, and other caterpillar pests with the exception of beet armyworm. Fortunately I’ve not heard of any beet armyworm outbreaks so far on the Eastern Shore this year.

Soybean insect pest update

Soybean Aphids: We are seeing an increase in soybean aphid numbers in the same areas we reported last week. I heard today that populations were building in one new area, on our Eastern Shore. Aphid populations are often mixed with corn earworms and stink bugs and although none are at threshold, the combination is making growers nervous. Several have applied insecticides. We are continuing our aphid survey of about 30-40 fields until mid September (when the funds run out). We will have an update on the situation when our scout reports in this Friday.
Corn Earworms: Corn earworms are still showing up in a lot of fields, but threshold levels are spotty. Moths are flying and some areas are still reporting fairly high numbers. Many soybean fields, mostly the double crop fields, are still susceptible to worm damage and will be for at least three more weeks. We are encouraging growers to continue scouting. Attached is a one page handout with ‘bullet points’ regarding the current corn earworm situation.
Stink Bugs: We are finding very large stink bug populations in a few fields, and a few in most. Of the fields we are surveying, the greatest majority are green stink bugs. Stink bugs seem to ‘pile’ up in soybean fields as the summer progresses, and into the early fall weeks. We are doing some field cage studies to try to sort out what these bugs are doing to bean yields and seed quality. For now, we should abide by the thresholds. On a positive note, our field trials over the last few years have shown that standard pyrethroids provided excellent control of green stink bugs.

Additional information: herbert-cew-25-aug-2009-doc