Western bean cutworm in sweet corn

Last week, we posted an article about western bean cutworm as a new caterpillar pest of sweet corn. The latest reports in our pest trapping network show a record high catch of 85 moths of western bean cutworm moths for the week of 16-22 July in a pheromone trap at Fremont in north central Ohio. The catch in this trap fell to only 2 moths in the following week, 23-29 July. At sites where this many moths are trapped, it is important to scout plantings in the emerging-tassel stage; look for egg masses and young larvae on the flag leaf. Insecticide treatment should be considered if eggs are found; our tentative threshold for western bean cutworm is 1% of plants infested for fresh market corn, or 4% of plants infested for processing sweet corn. Pictures and additional details on western bean cutworm can be found in our OSU fact sheet: http://ohioline.osu.edu/factsheet/ENT-40 .

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