Another season of Western bean cutworm (WBC) trapping has officially begun! Bucket traps placed along the edge of a corn field with a lure were set between June 17th through 23rd and our first trap count is for WBC adults captured for week ending June 30th. Last week, 18 counties monitored 66 traps across Ohio for WBC adults. Overall, 76 WBC adults were captured and average moth per trap was 1.2 (Figure 1).
Figure 1. Average Western bean cutworm adult per trap followed by total number of traps monitored in parentheses for week ending June 30, 2018.
The adults begin to emerge in late June and peak flight occurs anytime between the 2nd through 4th week of July (Figure 2). Monitoring for the adults allows us to pinpoint the optimal time to begin scouting for egg masses as well as know when peak flight is across the state. It is important to note that WBC prefers to lay eggs in pre-tassel corn— and since the rain delayed planting in many parts of the state this year, Ohio has a lot of late planted corn. Therefore, a good scouting program is important!
Figure 2. Western bean cutworm adult.
More information on our trapping summary for the 2017 field season can be found here: https://agcrops.osu.edu/newsletter/corn-newsletter/2017-29/western-bean-....
Further information on WBC can be found in our fact sheet: http://ohioline.osu.edu/factsheet/ENT-40 and a free article in the Journal of Integrated Pest Management: http://jipm.oxfordjournals.org/content/1/1/A1