As detailed in VegNet on 24 August, we have seen very high numbers of corn earworm moths caught in pheromone traps since mid-August. Trap catch remained very high last week at most Ohio sites where we have traps. This pest prefers to lay its eggs on fresh-silking sweet corn but also can cause significant damage to tomatoes and bell peppers.
Our Ohio trap reports for corn earworm and several other vegetable pests are posted online, at this link: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/10gh3rHahdxLKkXQapGyEPxWsjHYRmgsezOoFHnwtyEo/edit?usp=sharing
One of the details shown on our trap report page is the type of trap. At most of our sites, we are using the type of trap called a Scentry Heliothis trap, which is a large cone-shaped trap made of white nylon mesh. At two of our sites, South Charleston and Columbus, we have the type of trap called a Hartstack or Texas Cone trap, which is the same shape but larger and made of metal hardware cloth. The Hartstack trap tends to catch much higher numbers of corn earworm moths, and tends to detect low density populations of corn earworm more effectively than the Scentry Heliothis trap. The Hartstack trap is not readily available from trap supply companies, thus we recommend the Scentry Heliothis trap to our cooperators. However for anyone who is interested in Hartstack traps, here are two tips. The plans for making your own Hartstack trap are shown in a fact sheet from Kentucky: https://entomology.ca.uky.edu/ef010 . We purchased our Hartstacks several years ago from a source in Illinois (see http://www.agrinews-pubs.com/news/building-a-better-bug-trap/article_c69e27e7-fa1e-58b5-b5f7-442112bfb2a0.html )
-Celeste Welty, Extension Entomologist