Here at the Lep Network, we have concluded our eleventh week of monitoring for Ohio pests and are on our second week of western bean cutworm moth reports and our fourth week of corn earworm! This past week, Wood County saw the highest average of WBC moths with a whopping 17 in one trap, and Clinton County saw the highest for CEW. Similar to last week’s report, Van Wert County once again saw an influx of yellow striped armyworms (Figure 1) in their WBC traps – the county has 10 running traps and recorded an average of 6.0 YSA moths per trap this past week, an average of 3.9 more than last week.
Western Bean Cutworm
This past week was our second week monitoring for WBC in Ohio. The statewide average for WBC decreased from 1.8 during the week ending on June 23rd to 0.7 for the week ending June 30th. Counties with the highest averages included Wood (17.0), Defiance (5.3) and Van Wert/Hancock (3.0) (Figure 2). As mentioned in previous newsletters, WBC is a common pest of dry beans and a sporadic pest of corn in Ohio. Adults are primarily dark brown and black and can be identified by a distinct comma or crescent-shaped mark in the middle of each wing that is seated behind a light brown to tan colored dot. A white stripe can also be seen along the top edge of the forewing (Figure 3). WBC adult emergence typically takes place from late June to early July, so be sure to keep a look out for this pest.
When monitoring for WBC, it is important to be aware of imposters that may find their way into WBC traps and are easily confused with true WBC moths. The imposter WBC’s look practically identical to their harmful counterparts and the primary distinguishing feature between the two is size. Imposters tend to be significantly shorter in length when compared to true WBC’s (Figure 4). To continue the conversation and learn more about the western bean cutworm, please visit: https://ohioline.osu.edu/factsheet/ENT-40
Western bean cutworm moth map
Week 2
June 24th to June 30th, 2024
Corn Earworm
This is our fourth week monitoring for CEW pests in Ohio. The statewide average for CEW decreased from 1.6 during the week ending on June 23rd to 0.4 for the week ending June 30th. Counties with the highest averages included Clinton (3.0), Trumbull (3.0) and Morgan (3.0) (Figure 5). Corn earworm moths tend to be attracted to fields that are in the early green silk stage of development; this is when fields will be most susceptible to damage. CEW caterpillars vary in color from light to dark but will always have the same characteristic markings. Scouting for the larval stage of these pests is practically impossibly, but adult (Figure 6) scouting is important to predict larval damage in a field. To learn more about the corn earworm, check out one of our previous newsletters: https://agcrops.osu.edu/newsletter/corn-newsletter/2019-27/corn-earworm-field-corn-watch-molds
Corn earworm moth map
Week 4
June 24th to June 30th, 2024