Baute Bug Blog

I want to thank my loyal followers for making 2010 such a successful year for the Baute Bug Blog.  I will have some pretty cool information on new pest research and management strategies to share that I recently learned about at the annual meeting of the Entomological Society of America.  I will write about that early in 2011.  And catch me at the major crop conferences speaking about western bean cutworm including the Southwest Ag. Conference in Ridgetown (January 5 & 6), FarmSmart in Guelph (January 22) and the Eastern Ontario Crops Conference in Kemptville (February 24th).

Hope you and your families have a wonderful holiday and a fabulous New Year ahead.

Tracey 

Do you take a lot of close up photos of things like insects, disease symptoms, weeds etc but most times end up with nothing more than a blurry, unidentifiable image?  Well, here is your chance to fix that!  Whether you have a simple point and shoot, a smartphone with camera or the latest SLR, this workshop will teach you how to take better close up photos that you will be proud of.  Or at least not be embarrassed about.

Register now for the Marcophotopraphy Workshop (Session #36) at the Southwest Ag. Conference.    Dave Cheung, owner of DKB Digital Designs and grad student from the University of Guelph will show us how to take better close up photos of what we see in the field.  Dave has taken some pretty awesome photos in his time, as you can see from his website photo gallery.  Dave’s latest project includes developing a visual insect pest identification key for Ontario’s nursery and landscape crops.

BUT space is limited and you must pre-register to attend this workshop.  All you need to do is register for the conference and indicate that you want to attend this workshop.  You can do all that by visiting the Southwest Ag. Conference Website.  And don’t forget to bring your camera with you to the workshop!

The better the photo you can take and send to me, the easier it is for me to identify your pest problem!

I cringe sometimes when someone asks what the different refuge requirements are for the various Bt corn products currently on the market.  It is usually at the end of a talk and I have less than a minute to answer them.  Don’t get me wrong.  I am very happy that growers are asking about refuge.  More growers have been asking over the last year which means that they do care about preserving the technology by reducing the risk of resistance to Bt.  But to try to explain it in a simple, easy to understand way is getting extremely difficult.

So the best way to do it for now is to display it in a table titled Approved Transgenic Corn Traits and Refuge Requirements for Canada. (click on link)   I can’t take any credit for the hard work that went into this table.  My colleagues Chris DiFonzo, Eileen Cullen and Jocelyn Smith did the hard work.  I just recently updated it to include what is currently registered in Canada as of November 2010.

Not on the list is Pioneer’s Optimum AcreMax products which have not yet been granted approval by the CFIA. And I suspect a few other products which are under review right now with CFIA and the EPA will also need to be added to the table once approved.  As new products receive approval, I will make sure to update the table above.

Once we start to see more products containing more than one trait to control the same insect , reduced refuge and/or refuge in the bag will become common practice.  It certainly will make it easy on us extension people who are tasked with educating growers and reps on the various refuge requirements for Bt corn in Canada.

Bottom Line:  MAKE SURE YOUR DEALER IS PROVIDING YOU WITH THE CORRECT AMOUNT OF REFUGE SEED THAT YOU NEED FOR THE PRODUCT THEY HAVE SOLD YOU.

I am sure we will be talking about western bean cutworm all winter but there are a few key learnings that we gained in 2010 that I thought I would point out:

1.  The dark bands behind their heads that we use to identify the larvae are not obvious until their last few stages of instars.

2.  Fields with sandy soils had the heavier infestations, at least in corn.  Bothwell to Newbury had the heaviest, though sandy fields in other counties also had their share of damage.

3.  WBC moths are like Goldilocks.  They want their corn field to be in just the right stage to lay most of their eggs in.  If the crop is too young (ie. in the whorl stage) the larvae will die.  If the crop is in full tassel and shedding pollen, they are not interested.  The crop needs to be in pre-tassel to be JUST RIGHT for them.

4.  On average. the damage in both corn and beans was not as bad as it could have been.  Most fields have low levels of feeding.  This is probably due to most of the corn crop being past the crop stage they prefer to lay their eggs in.  Now as for beans…I am not sure why we have not seen more damage.  I think some of the later planted beans that are just being harvested might find more feeding once the combine goes through.  But the bulk of the moths had to lay their eggs somewhere after peak flight took place the week of July 25th.

5. I think we are fortunate that harvest is happening early so that the crop is off before ear rots and pod diseases could set in.  During our surveys, the corn kernels were maturing so quickly that the larvae had to dig down closer to the cob to beat the milk line.

So what does this mean for 2011?  There are a lot of larvae that are going to try to overwinter.  The sandier the soil, the more successful they will be.  So fields that already had moderate to heavy pressure this year should expect the same for next year.  Plant early to try to get the corn crop beyond pre-tassel by peak flight so that the moths avoid laying eggs in your field.  Bt corn containing the Viptera trait will provide control.  Products containing Cry 1F (Herculex or SmartStax) will provide protection but some feeding may still occur.  Not every field will have infestations next year but we should expect that 2010 was just a hint of what may come in 2011.

It was a great summer.  Even though some fields didn’t see a lot of moisture, many had just enough to keep slugs going for most of the season.  I often found slugs on soybean or dry bean plants even during the middle of summer.  And now with all of the corn scouting we have been doing this month,  I am frequently finding slug’s slime trails on the corn ears!  This tells me that the slug population has thrived this summer and that slug prone fields should be scouting this fall to know what to expect for fall wheat planting or next spring’s planting season.

Slugs that are present this fall will also be the same ones that overwinter and start up again in the spring in that same field.  So knowing what the slug population is like in each field in the fall will indicate what will be present in the spring.  Higher-risk fields include fields with considerable crop residue including no-till corn, soybeans and canola, wheat fields underseeded with red clover, newly
seeded alfalfa and fields following forages, especially grasses.

Fall scouting for slugs is not that labor intensive.  If scouting during the day, look for shiney silver trails left on the soil or plant surface as a result of their mucous trails.  To determine population levels take small pieces of plywood (approximately 2-3 feet long) or roofing shingles and position them on the soil surface in fields that have been harvested. 10 to 15 boards randomly scattered across the field will provide a good indication of population levels. These boards will act as shelters for the slugs. Visit the boards every 5 days for about a month, counting the number of slugs present under the boards. Morning is the best time to look since slugs will still be hanging out in their shelters.

If slugs are commonly found under monitored boards described above, that field should be considered at high risk for slug injury.  In these high risk fields, planting into conditions that help the crop grow quickly can avoid heavy slug damage.  Any form of tillage that helps remove the crop residue that slugs hide and live in can help. Even moving trash away from the seed bed can help to reduce feeding damage.  If this fall continues to be cool and moist, expect more feeding than usual.