Corn earworm moth trap catch around Blacksburg, VA and results of an insecticide evaluation on hemp

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This article was co-authored by Virginia Tech Entomology Ph.D. student, Kadie Britt.

Here are the corn earworm moth catch numbers from a handful of pheromone traps that we have set up in hemp fields and one sweet corn field around Blacksburg, VA. Trap catch appeared to peak around mid-August with moths emerging from cornfields and has subsided a little toward the end of August. Crops such as soybeans, hemp, tomatoes, and sweet corn are still at risk to this important pest.

Corn earworm moth catch in Heliothis traps baited with corn earworm Hercon sex pheromone lures.

Corn earworm (CEW) is the insect pest of greatest concern to hemp grown outdoors in Virginia and other states. For more information about this pest’s biology and behavior in hemp, see this factsheet: https://www.pubs.ext.vt.edu/content/dam/pubs_ext_vt_edu/ENTO/ento-328/ENTO-328.pdf.

We have already started to see worms feeding on hemp throughout Virginia. CEW feeding on hemp causes mechanical damage to buds, allowing environmental pathogens to enter crop material, ultimately leading to bud rot. Bud rot is visible and present in hemp crops right now but is not prevalent just yet. Managing populations early on will be key to reducing crop injury this season.

Corn earworm larva on hemp plant in Virginia. Photo by Kadie Britt.

Strict regulations on pesticide applications to hemp prevent the use of many available insecticides. We have conducted a laboratory experiment to evaluate the efficacy of some products that are currently allowed for use in hemp in Virginia as well as Pyganic, which is not labeled on hemp, but is a widely used organic insecticide.

Treatments included in the August 19, 2020 bioassay included:

  1. Untreated control (UTC): water
  2. Agree: Bacillus thuringiensis subspecies aizawai strain GC-91
  3. Spear-Lep + Leprotec: GS-omega/kappa-Hxtx-Hv1a + Bacillus thuringiensis variety kurstaki
  4. XenTari: Bacillus thuringiensis subspecies aizawai strain ABTS-1857
  5. PyGanic: Pyrethrins
  6. PyGanic + PBO (insecticide synergist): Pyrethrins + Piperonyl butoxide

To conduct this bioassay, corn earworm larvae (3rd to 5th instars) were collected from untreated sweet corn grown at Kentland Research Farm in Whitethorne, VA. Untreated hemp seed heads were collected from grain hemp, variety ‘Joey’, grown at the Urban Horticulture Center farm in Blacksburg, VA. Seed heads were dipped in spray tank concentrations of each insecticide at the high labeled rate and placed into 1 oz. diet cups. Larval corn earworms were placed directly on top of treated material. Mortality was evaluated at 1, 2, 3, and 4 days after the experiment was set up (Figure 3). PyGanic + PBO provided significantly greater efficacy against CEW than all other products tested with only 6.5% of worms surviving after 4 days. The addition of the synergist is needed for effective control with Pyganic due to pyrethroid resistance development in this pest.  Unfortunately, Pyganic is not currently labeled for use on hemp in Virginia.  Agree, XenTari, and PyGanic without PBO all performed similarly with 50.3%, 53.5%, and 59.9% of worms surviving after 4 days, respectively.

Survival after 4 days of field-collected corn earworm larvae placed on hemp seed heads that were dipped in spray tank concentrations of various organic insecticides. All products except Pyganic are permitted for use on hemp in Virginia.

Looking ahead this season, insecticide research trials in CBD hemp will be conducted in Blackstone with all of the aforementioned products plus many more. We will continue doing lab bioassays with CEW and other insecticides that are allowed for use in hemp at this time. Results will be shared as they become available.  

Estimating Soybean Yields

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Although it’s hard to accurately estimate soybean yields until maturity, doing so can give you an idea of your crops potential this year or differences between fields or soil  types.  Maybe you’re considering entering the soybean yield contest or maybe you just want some peace of mind.

Here are some general guidelines for estimating soybean yield.  Again, estimating soybean yield is inaccurate unless detailed sampling is done late in the growing season.  Estimates are usually not very good until the soybean approaches physiological maturity (R7).  Only about 50% of the total seed dry matter has accumulated by the R6 development stage.  Stresses during the R6 to R6.5 stages can result in large yield losses mostly by reduced seed size, but also by reduced pods or beans per pod.  After R6.5, stresses will cause a much smaller loss. 

To estimate yields, follow the steps below.  Be sure to sample in 5 to 7 different areas of the field.

1. Determine the number of row feet needed to make 1/1000th of an acre from the table below.  In narrow rows, one may use 3 or 4 side-by-side rows instead of one long row

2. Determine the plant population per acre.  Count the number of plants for the row feet determined above in 5 to 10 randomly chosen area of the field.  Multiply this number by 1000.  Average the number of sampling areas.  Note that the more areas of the field that you sample, the more accurate are your estimates.

3. Determine the number of pods per plant.  As you are making your stand counts, pull up 5 consecutive plants in the row you counting.  These 5 plants should be growing next to each other.  This will insure that you don’t just pull the best looking plants in the row.  Also, try to avoid gaps in the row as the plant next to the gap will have more pods than the average plant. Count the number of pods on these plants within the sample area and average.

4. Determine the pods per acre.  Multiply the plant population (step 2) by the pod average (step 3).

5. Determine the number of seeds per acre.  Multiply the number of pods (step 4) by 2.5 seed per pod.  This is an average number of seed per pod for most varieties.  Some varieties may have more, some less.

6. Determine pounds of seed per acre.  Divide the seeds per acre (step 5) by 3000 seeds per pound.  This number can vary from 2500 to 3500.  Higher numbers represent smaller seed that are more likely during late-season drought.  Smaller numbers represent seed that form with abundant August/September rainfall.  You may want to obtain a low, medium, and high estimate.

7. Determine the yield estimate.  Divide the pounds per acre (step 6) by 60 pounds per bushel.

As an alternative to calculating your numbers, you can use the chart below to determine how many pods or seed per pod you would need at three different plant populations to obtain a certain yield.

2020 Virginia Soybean Yield Contest

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Each year, the Virginia Soybean Association in cooperation with Virginia Cooperative Extension sponsors a soybean yield contest.

The purpose of the Virginia Soybean Yield Contest is to emphasize and demonstrate the practices necessary to produce maximum economic yields, to recognize those producers who grow high-yielding soybeans, and to gather data on the practices utilized by these outstanding producers.

There are three Soybean Yield Contest categories: 1) Full-Season, Non-irrigated; 2) Double-Crop, Non-irrigated; and 3) Irrigated (Full-Season or Double-Crop). 

Any grower (owner-operator, tenant, or tenant-landlord team) who is a member of the Virginia Soybean Association and produces 10 acres or more of soybeans within Virginia’s boundaries is eligible.  Participants may enter one, two, or all contests. 

Details of the contest can be found at the Soybean Extension & Research webpage. Please contact your local Virginia Cooperative Extension office if you wish to enter the contest, preferably at least 5 days before harvest. 

Corn earworm report–August 20, 2020

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Average nightly corn earworm/bollworm moth black light trap captures for this week were: Dinwiddie=51; Greensville=9; Hanover=3 (first week with more than 0.5 per night); Prince George-Templeton=12; Prince George-Disputanta=3; Southampton=5; Suffolk=17. Here is the Table. At just over 200 vial tests conducted, corn earworm moth survival is 39%.

Virginia Tech Eastern Shore AREC Virtual Field Day

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Please find the 2020 Virginia Tech Eastern Shore Agricultural Research and Extension Center Virtual Field Day available via YouTube. Pre-recorded sessions can be viewed in one playlist or you can pick and choose individual topics using the hyperlinks in the attached program.

Playlist link: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLldHHn24T22mXiFp8Hq9hEn-YPb4gMTM0

The program with clickable links is found by clicking: https://www.pubs.ext.vt.edu/content/dam/pubs_ext_vt_edu/spes/spes-239/SPES-239.pdf

As always, contact us with questions vis email, YouTube comments, or Facebook. Please let us know of any further research or Extension questions that you may have. We hope to see everyone again at our Painter, VA location in person in Summer 2021!

Stay healthy and take care!

Virginia Tech Eastern Shore AREC research plots. Photos by At Altitude Gallery, Cape Charles, VA ( https://ataltitudegallery.com/ ).

Corn earworm report–August 13, 2020

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Average nightly corn earworm/bollworm moth black light trap captures for this week were: Dinwiddie = 26; Greensville =4; Prince George-Templeton = 9; Prince George-Disputanta = 6; Southampton = 8; Suffolk = 23. Thanks to our Agents and Growers for their efforts. Here is the data table

Sally Taylor and her entomology program sampled a Cotton Incorporated sponsored planting date experiment today at the Tidewater AREC in Suffolk, VA. We found 2 to 6.5% bollworm-injured bolls in conventional (non-genetically protected against bollworm) cotton. In our Virginia Soybean Board experiment with maturity groups 4 and 5 full-season soybean (beginning pod growth stage), we had 2.3 to 5 corn earworm larvae and up to 3 soybean looper larvae per 15 sweeps.

Leaf-footed bugs are running amuck on vegetables

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Over the past couple of weeks our fruiting vegetable crops at Kentland Farm in Whitethorne, Virginia have been invaded by abundant numbers of leaf-footed bugs (Leptoglossus spp.). These bugs that are in the same bug family Coreidae as the squash bug Anasa tristus. They are piercing sucking feeders that have killed entire cucumber and zucchini plants from their feeding on stems and leaves or have caused numerous puncture wounds on fruit, which result in a little fluid oozing from the fruit.

Leaf-footed bug adults and nymphs on zucchini
Leaf-footed bug adults and nymphs on zucchini. Photo by Courtney Walls, Virginia Tech Entomology Graduate Student.

These insect pests can be controlled using the same insecticides that are labeled for use on stink bugs and squash bugs, namely, pyrethroids or neonicotinoids for conventional growers. Organic growers can achieve some suppression of bugs with the use of products containing pyrethrins such as Pyganic or Azera, or with the use of Surround (kaolin clay powder), which also works to prevent sunscald on fruit.

To learn more about this pest, please see the following VCE fact sheet that we produced a decade ago. Wow has it been that long? https://www.pubs.ext.vt.edu/content/dam/pubs_ext_vt_edu/3012/3012-1522/3012-1522_pdf.pdf

Corn earworm moth catch in the Blacksburg, VA area for Week ending Aug 14

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Since early July, we have been monitoring Heliothis traps baited with corn earworm pheromone at on 4 hemp fields and one sweet corn field in and around Montgomery, Co., Virginia. Below are the trap catch results. After a week or two of low catch, the moth activity has picked up especially at the Wall sweet corn.

Corn earworm moths per trap per week

Week endingTru Harvest hemp 1 – Christiansburg, VATru Harvest hemp 2 – Christiansburg, VAUrban Hort Center – Hemp Blacksburg, VAWall Farm – sweet corn Blacksburg, VAHomefield Farm – hemp Whitethorne, VACatawba hemp – Catawba, VA
17-Jul2006104
24-Jul5404900
31-Jul000914
7-Aug813030NA0
14-Aug745188183

Corn earworm update for July 30, 2020

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Black light trap nightly averages for corn earworm/bollworm moths this week in Virginia were: Greensville = 35.6; Prince George-Templeton = 1.0; Prince George-Disputanta = 3.3; Southampton = 2.0; Suffolk = 17.1 (all reports were higher than last week). Thanks to our Agents for their reports.

Resistance monitoring of corn earworm/bollworm using adult vial tests now has 50% of moths surviving the 24-hour exposure to the pyrethroid, cypermethrin at the 5 microgram/vial rate (76 vials tested to date, collected from Suffolk).