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…
Tracey Baute November 30, 2010 1264 Comments Off on Photography Workshop at the Southwest Ag. ConferenceDo 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…
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…
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…
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…
Tracey Baute August 30, 2010 1221 Comments Off on Fall Armyworm Could Threaten Mixed Forages and Other CropsAn “unprecidented” fall armyworm moth flight catch in Kentucky gives us early warning to a potential threat here. The University of Kentucky is reporting the highest catches recorded in the last 15 years. What does that mean for us? If weather fronts or leftovers of a hurricane pass over Kentucky and push towards us, they could bring these masses of…
Since my blog entry last week where I mentioned that we hadn’t found WBC feeding in dry beans yet, my crew as well as reps who have been sending photos in have found WBC pod feeding in dry bean fields at a few locations across the province. To date, sites known to have WBC pod feeding include: Talbotville and Dutton…
Travelling the country side yesterday, I saw too much spider mite damage going out of control in soybean fields that were easy to spot from my car. Too many fields that still have some time to mature are seeing sure signs of spider mite activity. Some are already too late to control, as the mites have already started to kill…
I’ve been in a lot of dry bean fields this week, mainly in Huron County. And I will admit that in a few fields, it was tough to sort out what was causing the damage. But so far, there are only one or two sites out of all of the ones I scouted that have even come close to having…
These next two weeks are critical for western bean cutworm scouting and management in dry beans. Peak moth flight took place at the end of July and pod feeding is typically expected 10 to 21 days after peak flight. Huron County is particularly at risk given the very high moth count for that county this year (over 26,000 moths so…
I am still hearing from people who are looking for WBC egg masses on corn leaves. But unless they are scouting very late corn that is not in tassel yet, most of the WBC will already be larvae on the tassel or more likely in the ear. So focus on scouting the ears and tassels now. But there are other…
I was sent a message today from Deb Campbell of Syngenta Seeds, that they are finding fall armyworm in corn in Grey, Perth, Oxford, Huron and Simcoe counties. Infestations are low and the larvae are small but it is something to keep an eye on. There could be fields with heavier infestations. Also, both Michigan and Ohio are reporting finding…
It hasn’t been since 2002 that we have experienced this low of levels of soybean aphids. Cross my fingers and knock on wood but I think we are going to get through the season without a problem. That said, spidermites are starting to pop up in fields, particularly where it is starting to get a bit dry. Scout perimeters and…
Based on scouting observations and trap counts so far, it looks like we have finally passed the peak for western bean cutworm moth activity. Egg masses are difficult to find now in corn which tells us that the moths are no longer interested in laying eggs in that crop…unless of course there is an extremely late planted corn field in…
Jim Barclay at Hensall District Co-operative Inc. reported that an early planted otebo bean field in Tavistock has been found with WBC pod feeding injury and will be sprayed. This is a reminder to growers with early planted dry beans to get out and scout either neighbouring pre-tassel corn fields for egg masses and if you have pods already on…