Fall Armyworm Update
Our 20th week of monitoring moth pests in Ohio ran from September 1st to September 7th. At this time, we are only monitoring for FAW moths. Over the past week we had 12 counties participate in monitoring with the statewide average decreasing from 14.0 moths per trap to 6.6 moths per trap.
Just a reminder about “imposters” in the traps, an imposter is when another moth, in this case a Wainscot moth, is attracted to the trap and may skew the numbers. In some cases it may be difficult to differential between the target species and an imposter; but in the case of FAW and Wainscot moths, it is a bit easier. The image below is a comparison of the two moths (Figure 1). On the left is a Wainscot, which has an overall lighter wing color and less variation in color patterns. On the right is a FAW moth, which has a much darker forewing with more dark and light color variations.
With that being said, over the past week our monitoring network reported the highest moth average of 29.7 in Hancock Co., followed by 27.0 moths in Mogan Co. Numbers continue to be widespread with the majority of counties reporting low numbers, including zeros (Figure 2).
For more information on FAW biology and management, visit our factsheet at https://ohioline.osu.edu/factsheet/ent-0093
Fall Armyworm Moth Map
Week #6
September 1st – September 7th
