Tag Archives: Yellow Sugarcane Aphid

Fall Armyworms in Sorghum

Posted on by

Fall armyworms are being found in sorghum fields across the area this week.  While the feeding can be alarming, I have yet to find a field in need of treatment. Insecticide application may be justified if larval feeding reduces leaf area by more than 30 percent or is damaging the developing grain head or growing point within the whorl. The fields where I have found the armyworms had less than 5% infested plants and the feeding damage was below the economic threshold. Often, I was finding two or… Read More →

Cutworms and Aphid IPM

Posted on by

The two top insect responses in the “One Question Survey” were Cutworms and Aphids. Cutworms are the larval stage of moths, several species of which damage corn, grain sorghum and cotton.  The  cutworms species may include Army cutworm, black cutworm, granulate cutworm, pale western cutworm, variegated cutworm. Cutworms are dingy, gray-black and smooth-skinned (greasy appearance) robust bodied caterpillars that may reach 1-1/2 inches long. When disturbed, the caterpillars curl up tightly into a C-shape. Larvae overwinter and become active in the spring, feeding on a wide variety of plants. Adults… Read More →

Mid-Coast Grain Sorghum Insect Management

Posted on by

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 →