David Owens, Extension Entomologist, owensd@udel.edu
This week’s guess the pest challenge was Beet Armyworm. BAW is a pest of peppers, and some are currently trying to defoliate a would-be aphid trial of mine. Moths are also highly attracted to pigweeds to lay eggs, hence the occasional find in weedy soybean fields and other vegetable fields. Larvae are not as choosy and can cause defoliation and rind feeding. BAW are resistant to pyrethroids. They can be distinguished from other worms by having 4 abdominal prolegs, no orange head (though sometimes earworms have greenish heads), and the presence of a black dot above the second pair of true legs behind the head.
