Tag Archives: sorghum midge

IPM Field Meeting – May 21, 2018

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Date: Monday, May 21 Time: 9 am Location: Near Port Lavaca at the Intersection of FM 1679 and Sanders Rd. Topics: Crop development and pest management will be discussed CEUs: 1 hour CEU will be provided.

Pest Management in Bloomimg Sorghum

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Sorghum fields across the Mid-Coast of Texas are beginning to bloom. These fields are susceptible to sorghum midge damage. The sorghum midge is one of the most damaging insects of sorghum in Texas, especially in the southern half of the state.  The adult sorghum midge is a small, fragile-looking orange-red fly with a yellow head, brown antennae and legs and gray, membranous wings. During the single day of adult life, each female lays about 50 yellowish-white eggs in flowering spikelets of sorghum.  Eggs hatch in 2 to 3… Read More →

Sorghum of the Mid-Coast – May 5, 2017

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Sorghum fields in Calhoun, Refugio and Victoria Counties should be scouted weekly for pest insects. This is especially true for the Sugarcane Aphid and Sorghum Midge.  We have ben finding sugarcane aphids in sorghum fields across the area but their numbers have been below threshold levels thus far. I have seen only occasional plants along the southern edge of sorghum fields with sugarcane aphids.  The most I have seen thus far is small colonies of less than 20 aphids on a less than 1% of plants. When scouting sorghum fields, I suggest marking… Read More →

Mid-Coast Grain Sorghum Update

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Grain sorghum maturity ranges from boot to soft dough.  Some fields are turning color. We are finding varying populations of Sorghum Midge in fields ranging from 0-5 per head.  Treatment thresholds are 0.5-1 midge per head depending on the number of flowering heads per acre. We are finding headworms in Refugio County sorghum fields ranging from 0-4 per head.  Many of these are fall armyworms.  The economic threshold for headworms ranges from 0.15 to 1 large worm (> 0.5 inch) per head.  For medium worms (0.25-0.5 inch) the ET… Read More →

Mid-Coast Grain Sorghum Insect Management

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Fields of grain sorghum in Calhoun, Refugio and Victoria Counties range from 6-7 leaf to mid-late bloom.  The most important insects we are seeing are sorghum midge and aphids. Sorghum midge are only pests of grain sorghum during bloom.  The adult sorghum midge is a 1.3-mm-long, fragile-looking, orange-red fly, with a yellow head, brown antennae and legs, and gray membranous wings. (Source) During the single day of adult life, each female lays about 50 yellowish-white eggs between the glumes of flowering spikelets of sorghum.  Larvae complete development in… Read More →