By Dr. Erin Hodgson
The IPM team at Iowa State University has been monitoring for field crop pests for a long time. The target pests have changed over the years, but the goal always remains the same: help inform farmers about pest activity in Iowa. One long-standing project is monitoring for black cutworm, an erratic field crop pest. In 2017, we also included true armyworm as part of the trapping network. We use adult trap captures to estimate feeding injury in field crops. Both of these pests are migratory and therefore the timing of injury is variable between growing seasons.
In 2018, we want to include more Iowa cooperators to help us with black cutworm and true armyworm trapping. Having more traps around the state will help us refine pest movement and scouting/treatment windows. If you are willing to establish a location in 2018, please reach out to us at bugtraps@iastate.edu with your contact information, including mailing address and county where trap will be placed. Cooperators will monitor traps every other day, from early April to late May, and report trap captures to us weekly. We will mail supplies and instructions to you in late March.