Several US states and Canadian provinces are joining forces to monitor for adult corn rootworm (CRW) beetles this year. Though some US states have been monitoring adult rootworm beetles using sticky traps for several years now, trapping for CRW is relatively new for Ontario. Weekly trap data for all trap sites involved will be collected and mapped in real-time by OMAFRA’s GIS specialists.
Given the increase in reports of suspected Bt resistant rootworm in several counties last year in Ontario, monitoring for both western and northern corn rootworm beetles is becoming increasingly important. Especially in regions of high-risk continuous corn acres with a history of repeated use of Bt rootworm hybrids. Traps will help us understand if it is a good rootworm year and will alert us to regions where adult activity is higher than expected and may need further scouting and monitoring for potential resistance issues.
We are looking for trap participants here in Ontario. Free trap supplies are available for approximately 25 sites this year through OMAFRA. If you have a continuous corn field with a history of repeated use of Bt-RW hybrids and are interested in getting free trap supplies from OMAFRA, please contact Tracey Baute (tracey.baute@ontario.ca) so we can get traps to you before July when trapping will start.
More details about what the monitoring involves can be found in this document: Adult Corn Rootworm Trapping Instructions
For those who want to purchase their own traps or miss out on the free supply of traps from OMAFRA , trap supply details are also provided in the document above.