Using Adult Baits to Manage Corn Rootworms and Improved Economic Thresholds for Corn Rootworm Traps

Corn Rootwonns have one generation per year and a strong preference for corn. You are familiar with the significance of their preference for corn. Other then local populations that have demonstrated extended diapause (a topic for another concurrent session), rootworm larval injury has only been of concern when com is planted after com (continuous corn). The most common tactic used by growers to protect continuous corn from larval injury is to apply an insecticide to the soil at planting. The second fact, that economically important corn rootwonns have only one generation per year, has generated interest in a second way insecticides might be used to avoid larval injury; the broadcasting of a foliar insecticide spray to kill adult corn rootworms before they lay their eggs. Northern and western com rootworms lay the majority of their eggs during August and early September. The eggs overwinter in the soil, and the damaging larval stage hatches the following June. If the adults were eliminated from a field before they laid their eggs, there would be no larvae to damage corn the following season

Personnel launch system autoland development study

The Personnel Launch System (PLS) Autoland Development Study focused on development of the guidance and control system for the approach and landing (A/L) phase and the terminal area energy management (TAEM) phase. In the A/L phase, a straight-in trajectory profile was developed with an initial high glide slope, a pull-up and flare to lower glide slope, and the final flare touchdown. The TAEM system consisted of using a heading alignment cone spiral profile. The PLS autopilot was developed using integral LQG design techniques. The guidance and control design was verified using a nonlinear 6 DOF simulation. Simulation results demonstrated accurate steering during the TAEM phase and adequate autoland performance in the presence of wind turbulence and wind shear

Watch Soybean Aphid Numbers - NOW

Last week the conditions in Minnesota were very good for soybean aphid reproduction. With those conditions, the populations increased rapidly in many locations throughout Minnesota. We have been expecting 2008 soybean aphid populations to be lower as they were in 2004 and 2006, but the 2008 weather has not been exactly “typical.

Black Cutworm Treatment Options

As technology traits in corn seed increase seed prices and the price received per bushel increases, it is wise to consider black cutworm management in corn. Many areas of Iowa were cool and wet last spring, 2008. That weather often delayed planting and created flooded areas that had to be replanted. These conditions may have caused black cutworms to be more common than usual

Will 2009 be a Soybean Aphid Year

After high numbers of soybean aphids last year, Iowa agriculturalists are beginning to ask the question, “Will 2009 also be an aphid outbreak year?” Iowa State University entomologists working in soybeans have not seen enough aphid eggs on buckthorn to be alarmed. Remember, however, that aphid numbers will vary greatly from area to area and field to field. The variability in aphid numbers will not only depend on the overwintering success of aphids, but also reproduction on buckthorn in the spring, planting dates, the variety of soybeans planted, environmental conditions including temperature and rainfall, and the numbers of natural enemies

Management of bean leaf beetle to reduce defoliation

The last three issues of the ICM newsletter have contained articles on the bean leaf beetle in soybean. The April 29 article reported high winter survival of the beetles; the May 6 article outlined the early-season management of the beetle and bean pod mottle virus; and the May 20 article showed how to distinguish between twelvespotted lady beetle and bean leaf beetle. My article adds to the saga by discussing beetle management to reduce defoliation

Calculation of specific economic thresholds for the commercially available yellow sticky traps used for adult corn rootworm monitoring

During the mid 1980s, Iowa State University researchers described a sampling program that used yellow sticky traps for monitoring adult corn root worms. The Pherocon AM trap, then available commercially, served as the basis for a sampling program. This program was pro­ posed as a practical means for commercial corn growers to predict the need for soil insec­ ticides to protect a subsequent year\u27s corn crop from corn rootworm larval damage. Using this decision tool, farmers were expected to apply insecticides only when needed instead of preventively. Since then, a trap called the Multigard, from an additional supplier, has been used to monitor beetle populations. Both traps are yellow, rectangular cards coated with adhesive. The traps differ in color, however; the Pherocon is canary yellow and the Multigard is a fluorescent yellow

Should I Be Concerned About Corn Rootworms Now?

It is March already, the tillage equipment is being readied, and we are thinking eagerly about planting the 2008 crop of corn. Yet it seems a long time until we have to worry about corn rootworm larval feeding on the corn roots. However, there is something that you should be thinking about now, before you plant the corn

Evaluation for an integrated pest management program for northern corn rootworm extended diapause

Until about 1965, nearly all the northern corn rootworm (NCR) reproduced a single generation yearly. Because it could only survive on cultivated corn and its dispersal stage never coincided with the beginning of a cropping season, crop rotation controlled this pest in Iowa corn fields for over a century