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Corn growers should watch for black cutworm
There’s the possibility that some Midwest corn growers will have to treat for black cutworms. Syngenta’s Bruce Battles tells Brownfield that damage, if it occurs, is evident from the pest’s feeding on leaves, but he says the real damage is stand loss resulting from black cutworm infestations.
“You know, if you’re going to lose another one, two, three, all the way up to five or ten percent damage or lost stands due to black cutworm, that can really lower your yield potential at the end of the year as well,” Battles said in an interview.
This year, says Battles, is particularly difficult to determine whether to treat, because some areas are going to lose part of the crop simply because it’s cool and wet.
“When is the right time to treat for this and what would I have for treatment options and how well are those treatment going to work?” is what producers might be asking, says Battles. “And you also have to figure in the cost that you’re going to spend on those different treatments as well.”
Battles says the treatment threshold for black cutworm is generally about two percent of the plants being clipped off or dying. That’s also a problem because he says some yield is already lost when the determination is made to treat.
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