Bill Cissel, Extension Agent – Integrated Pest Management; bcissel@udel.edu
Congratulations to Grier Stayton for correctly identifying the insect as a European corn borer and for being selected to be entered into the end of season raffle for $100 not once but five times. Everyone else who guessed correctly will also have their name entered into the raffle. Click on the Guess the Pest logo to participate in this week’s Guess the Pest challenge!
Guess the Pest Week #24 Answer: European Corn Borer
It’s hard to believe that a pest that once caused an estimated annual economic loss of $1 billion dollars in the United States is now a rare occurrence. The European corn borer (ECB), as the name implies, is actually native to Europe and was introduced into North American in the early 1900s. In addition to being a pest of corn (field corn and sweet corn), it is also considered a pest of many vegetable and field crops. Since the adoption of transgenic corn hybrids in the mid-1990s, losses due to ECB have been virtually eliminated in Bt crops and significantly reduced in other vegetable and non-Bt field crops. This is one of the pests that the UD Insect Trapping Program monitors with black light traps. The reason we continue to monitor ECB populations throughout the state is because even though generally speaking, populations have been low, there are still local pockets where ECB is causing damage. The photo above of the ECB larva was taken on the Eastern Shore of VA by Helene Doughty from a non-BT sweet corn plot that was 100% infested with ECB.
For information on the benefits of Bt adoption, read this article: Regional pest suppression associated with widespread Bt maize adoption benefits vegetable growers http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2018/03/06/1720692115