(NAFB) Over the last couple of decades, farmers have not been terribly concerned about the corn rootworm and the issues it can create, especially during pollination time. However, there might be some reasons that producers would want to scout their fields today as Nick Seiter from the University of Illinois explains.
Seiter urges farmers to scout their fields now for the western and northern corn rootworm. And then to do it again later in the season to collect those numbers. They can use that set of information themselves to plan for next year. But they could also contact Nick Seiter in hopes of participating in a couple of programs. One that helps to track the total numbers of rootworm across the Midwest. That database is online at RootwormIPM.org. He also assesses the worms to see if they have become resistant to any of the BT traits that are being used in fields now.
Again, the easiest email address to remember is fieldcropinsects, all one word, @illinois.edu.