The “I See Dead Plants” podcast, a new offering from the Iowa State University Integrated Pest Management (IPM) Program, is now open to listeners interested in learning how plant science research impacts everyday life.
The 2021 Virtual Crop Scout School is now available and is free to the general public. The scout school consists of 22 webinars from crop protection specialists at eleven Midwest Universities and is offered through the Crop Protection Network (CPN).
Corn rootworm egg hatch in Iowa occurs from late May to the middle of June, with an average peak hatching date of June 6 in central Iowa. In 2020, the expected hatching date will be behind the average due to cool spring temperatures. Development is driven by soil temperature and measured by growing degree days. Research suggests about 50% of egg hatch occurs between 684-767 accumulated degree days (base 52°F, soil). Most areas in Iowa will reach peak corn rootworm egg hatch in 5-7 days (Figure 1).
As crops start to emerge, now is a good time to get out and do early-season scouting to see how things went with planting and to also check for any early season crop disease and insect issues.
I was a speaker at the ISU Northern Research Farm field day near Kanawha yesterday. So many questions about thistle caterpillar and soybean gall midge. I also saw some feeding injury to vegetative corn. Here are some pictures:
I’ve been hearing about and seeing a variety of caterpillars in seedling crops this week. In soybean, you notice thistle caterpillars feeding and making webbed cavities from the leaves. They can be easy to find in early-vegetative soybean but rarely build up to economic populations. Read more about thistle caterpillars in this ICM News article.
The Crop Scouting Field Basics Workshop is for interns scouting fields and reporting back to farmers, crop consultants, or others. Scouts are the "eyes and ears" in the field and their reports help drive pest management decisions. Crop scouts often discover other problems in the field, such as nutrient deficiencies, implement malfunctions, and other issues, that might not be seen from a 'windshield survey.' The objective is getting students out of the classroom and in the field, completing activities a crop scout will actually be doing. This opportunity builds confidence in the field.
#BeTheNerd at the Extension Share Fair
These species, whether it be insects, weeds or pathogens have the power to drastically alter a landscape by feeding on, or out-competing, plants or other native species. Populations of invasive species are often large enough to kill large numbers of trees and plants, reduce soil quality and result in significant grain yield decreases
The IPM team at Iowa State University has been monitoring for field crop pests for a long time. The target pests have changed over the years, but the goal always remains the same: help inform farmers about pest activity in Iowa. One long-standing project is monitoring for black cutworm, an erratic field crop pest. In 2017, we also included true armyworm as part of the trapping network. We use adult trap captures to estimate feeding injury in field crops.
