News

Time to scout for black cutworms

Purdue University pest management specialist John Obermeyer says it’s time to start scouting for signs of black cutworm.  “A lot of the corn that has recently been planted is beginning to emerge,” he says. “And the cutworm, according to heat unit models, are just about the size where they could be significantly damaging to the corn.”

He tells Brownfield weedy fields are especially vulnerable this year.  “Farmers indeed, may just plant right into that situation,” he says.  “And then relying on follow-up herbicides to take care of it as the crop emerges.  And there is where we have that longer interface where we have weeds, crop emerging, and we have the cutworms that are the right size where they begin cutting the corn plants.”

If black cutworms are a problem, Obermeyer says foliar insecticides, if applied in a timely manner, are very effective in controlling the pests.