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In-season corn rootworm management

An extension integrated pest management specialist has some advice for farmers dealing with intense corn rootworm pressure.

Bruce Potter with the University of Minnesota tells Brownfield the timing has to be right when considering adult beetle control.

“You don’t really want to start until you see females that are full of eggs. You put a foliar insecticide on and it will take out that batch, but that emergence lasts over several weeks. So you’re probably going to have to treat that field at least twice and maybe even three times.”

He says a few beetles per plant does not warrant treatment.

“Where we we get worried is if you’re less than 50 percent pollinated and you’ve got silks clipped within a half-inch of the tip of the ears. That takes a lot of beetles, maybe 10 per-plant or so.”

Potter says western corn rootworm populations have been building the past three years and he’s seeing higher northern rootworm numbers this year as well.

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