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Rootworm pressure down in ’14

Corn rootworm populations were lower this summer across much of the Midwest.

Sean Evans, a corn technology development manager with Monsanto, attributes the decrease to a combination of factors. He says the harsh winter likely increased the mortality of overwintering eggs. And saturated soils this spring and summer affected the survival rate of rootworm larvae.

“When the larvae are very small, they are very susceptible to water,” Evans says. “If they don’t have oxygen, they don’t survive and don’t chew on the roots and cause the damage that we see.”

But Evans says farmers can’t let their guard down on rootworm. He says they should continue to follow best management practices, the most important of which is regular rotation from corn to soybeans.

“It resets that field and eliminates that population that could be a potential problem,” he says, “and really you’ve got a couple years, at that point, before you have beetles moving in after that soybean crop to reestablish themselves.”

Other best management practices include planting Bt hybrids pyramided with multiple traits targeting larval rootworm—and rotating between Bt hybrids without soil-applied insecticide and non-rootworm Bt hybrids with soil-applied insecticide.

Evans made those comments in an interview with Brownfield at last week’s Farm Progress Show.

AUDIO: Sean Evans (5:04 MP3)

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