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Insect pressure to be expected when checking stands

Farmers are evaluating stands as newly planted crops emerge.

University of Minnesota Extension Integrated Pest Management Specialist Bruce Potter expects early season insect pressure.

“Right now if you’ve got corn emerged or even wheat, you should be seeing some leaf feeding from black cutworm larvae. They’re not quite big enough to cut corn yet, they’ll hit that growth stage probably the early part of June.”

He tells Brownfield in areas where it’s been wet, wind-blown soils could cut some plants off.

“And anytime you have problems in the spring with flooding or any excess rain (that creates) crusted soils, it makes it a little bit harder to evaluate stands and determine what’s actually causing missing plants.”

Potter says delays have created a wide range of spring tillage and planting dates for corn and soybeans, and the staggered nature of the spring will have an impact on pest populations.