David Owens, Extension Entomologist, owensd@udel.edu
Dry weather appears to be setting in which should reduce slug activity in the near-term. It will also help planters close seed slots which will help with slug control. If anyone has planted soybeans, be vigilant though, especially in parts of the state that have received a little bit more rain recently.
Early Season Moth Activity
Black cutworm and especially true armyworm activity is much, much lower than last year. Last year, the Smyrna trap peaked in mid-April with over 1,000 moths captured in a week. As you can see from this week’s trap counts, moth activity is comparatively non-existent.
| Location | # of Nights | Total Catch | |
| TAW | BCW | ||
| Salisbury, MD | 7 | 7 | 1 |
| Seaford, DE | 7 | 0 | 11 |
| Sudlersville, MD | 7 | 3 | 26 |
| Harrington, DE | 7 | 23 | 41 |
| Smyrna, DE | 7 | 1 | 0 |
| Middletown, DE | 8 | 0 | – |
Small Grains
According to a model developed by Virginia Tech in 2012, we should have reached peak cereal leaf beetle egg lay, if there are any cereal leaf beetle to be found. That threshold is 25 eggs or larvae per 100 tillers. Eggs tend to be concentrated on the upper surface of a leaf, near the midrib, and more tend to be on flag leaves. Eggs are small, sideways-barrel shaped, and copper colored. It has been many years since any reports of signficant CLB activity have been received outside of Maryland research farms. As noted above, true armyworm activity appears to be extremely low this year. At this time, it does not appear that an insecticide will be justified or result in a positive return on investment if tank-mixed with a fungicide.