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Pest pressure reports are minimal

A field crops entomologist says dry weather at the beginning of summer has likely reduced pest populations.

Chris DiFonzo with Michigan State University tells Brownfield pest outbreaks have been remarkably quiet.  She points to her ongoing research on stink bugs.

“This is the lowest year I’ve had yet, so I suspect that super dry time early might have dried up some of their eggs and I just haven’t seen a lot of stink bugs in the fields,” she says.  “It’s like almost none in the fields that I’ve been in, so that’s been a little different.”

DiFonzo says there have been some reports of western bean cutworm hatching recently but it will be a few weeks before any large infestations surface.