This newsletter and the advice herein are free. You usually get what you pay for.
Crop weather
Rainfall, air and soil temperatures, degree-days, soil moisture, and other current and historical weather data for the University of Minnesota Southwest Research and Outreach Center (SWROC), a little spot about two miles west of Lamberton, MN, can be found at https://swroc.cfans.umn.edu/weather.
As expected, the late February and early March planted oat demos at the SWROC are now up and looking fine. Some area corn and soybeans have gone in. While typing this issue, I have been watching it rain - a hard rain on and off and that will slow field work a bit. This system has the potential to pull up migrating insects from far to our south.
Although it’s time to plant, it’s still early. Pay attention to soil conditions when tilling or planting, in areas that had significant rainfall today. It’s often harder to identify stand-reducing insect or disease problems in a crop planted into a bad seedbed.
Black cutworm moths arrive in Minnesota.
Black cutworm (BCW) moths arrived in Minnesota right on schedule this spring. Cooperative Black Cutworm Trapping Network results from 2012 to 2023 show that the earliest migration arrival detected was March 30, 2021, and the latest was April 13 in 2021.
Numerous cooperators traps reported captures from April 6 through April 12. The number of moths captured in most traps has been low. The exception was a Brown County trap where an 8-moth capture occurred April 8. This is a significant capture. The network has been using 2 moths captured over a 2-night period as an indication that a large migration has occurred and an increased potential for crop damage.
The eggs laid by the April 8th moth flight are projected to hatch on April 23 and the resulting larvae large enough to cut small corn plants on May 20.
The female moth is looking for sites with winter annuals and early spring emerging annual weeds to lay her eggs. Tillage disrupts this weed growth and makes a field less attractive for egg laying. For BCW management, it is helpful to record when early season vegetation is terminated by tillage or burndown herbicide.
You can follow black cutworm and armyworm moth arrivals through the spring at
https://swroc.cfans.umn.edu/research/ipm/bcw-network. Scouting and management information can be found at the same sight or https://extension.umn.edu/corn-pest-management/armyworm.
This project is supported, in part, by the farm families of Minnesota and their corn check-off investment.
Happy trails,
Bruce