Final 2019 Moth Trapping Update

Moth trapping began April 1 and came to an end May 31. This year, we had more than 45 trap locations and 42 cooperators across the state. These cooperators provide us data on black cutworm (BCW) and true armyworm (TAW) moth captures at their locations, which we use to predict BCW cutting dates and report captures of both species to aid scouting efforts.

Since our last update, a few significant flights of BCW occurred in Black Hawk, Hamilton, and O’Brien counties (Table 1, Week 7, * and bold). Combined with adverse weather that has further delayed corn planting in the state, this information should be used to scout late-planted fields in these areas for seedling damage. Below are the final moth capture reports for BCW (Table 1) and TAW (Table 2).

If you have been scouting fields and found cut plants (or plants otherwise damaged by BCW or TAW), please feel free to share that information with us by emailing bugtraps@iastate.edu. Including location and dates where the damage occurred will help us evaluate and refine our predictions.

Table 1: Black cutworm (BCW) captures. Bold + * indicate weeks where a significant flight occurred at that location.

Table 2: True armyworm (TAW) captures.