Corn

In this podcasting episode, Matt and Erin talk about a disagreement in insect ID. The false Japanese beetle often emerges before the true Japanese beetles and people mistakenly confuse the two species. Erin recently wrote about the timing of adult emergence of JB in ICM News and how to tell the difference between the two species in an ICM Blog post. By the way, we think Erin was right on this one even though Matt was super confident! Matt gives a quick summary of hexapods used as college team mascots (Thanks to fellow podcaster, Jonathan Larson at UNL, for the list!). Pollinator Fest is next weekend at Reiman Gardens. 

Today, Matt and Erin bounce around a few topics of insect-related news. The black flies and mosquitoes have been especially aggressive in central Iowa this week. Erin summarizes field crop pest activity in central and southern Iowa, mainly some caterpillar feeding in corn and bean leaf beetle feeding in soybean. Matt's F.I.T. is somewhat random, but eventually ties it together with an insect. 

Today, Matt and Erin cover a lot of topics. First, Erin summarizes her recent trip to Indianapolis for the 2017 North Central Branch ESA meeting. Lots of interesting papers and posters were presented this week. Also, the first confirmation of soybean aphid in Iowa happened again this week. It is typical to find aphids during early June in vegetative soybean, so listeners shouldn't be too concerned at this time. Other pest activity updates include more black cutworm and armyworm, plus a few bean leaf beetles and slugs. Matt follows up on the slug conversation by highlighting a recent interview with Penn State entomologist, John Tooker. As a follow up to the IRAC discussion a few episodes ago, Erin reminds everyone that the organization puts out a few helpful references on insecticide modes of action and resistance management. 

Two events of interest coming up:

Pollinator Fest at Reiman Gardens is on June 24. It's free this year, so bring your family for some fun hands-on activities centered around pollinators. 

Matt and Erin are organizing a field day with Greg Tylka on August 17. The event is at FEEL near Boone, IA and registration is open now. 

The podcast took a break while Matt was on vacation and Erin was on the extension circuit. But they're back and talking about recent pest activity in Iowa. First, Erin shares updates about treating for soybean aphid in northern Iowa. Populations were erratic, as usual, and some fields exceeded threshold in early- to mid-August. A few people noticed poor performance of bifenthrin, a pyrethroid, for soybean aphid. This isn't a huge surprise, given there are pyrethroid-resistant populations in southwestern and southcentral Minnesota in 2015 and 2016. It is important to assess insecticide efficacy and determine potential issues with soybean aphid. In general, soybean are approaching mid- to full seed set throughout Iowa and yield responses are not consistent when applied after full seed set. 

In addition, Erin has noted some corn fields with abundant aphid populations. Some fields exceeded 1,000s per plant and were treated with aerial applications last week and this week. Economic thresholds for these pests are not well defined, but Erin has an ICM News article to take into consideration. 

Matt and Erin will be at the 2016 Farm Progress Show near Boone, Iowa on August 30. Erin will be at the ISU Event Tent in the morning and have a presentation at 10am. Matt will be there in the afternoon - so stop by and see them!

Today, Erin is so excited to tell everyone about her new, 12-page publication called, "Getting to Know the Insects." This publication is geared to youth and new agronomists that want to learn more about how to identify, sample and management field crop insects. It's available for $2 in the ISU Extension Store. Next, Matt and Erin talk about corn and soybean switching to reproductive stages around Iowa and implications for pest scouting and management. In particular, hot and dry weather favors twospotted spider mites, but expected cooler temperatures can promote soybean aphid populations. Erin also mentions a rare pest, redheaded flea beetle, showing up in a cornfield this summer. Read Erin's blog to see feeding injury on corn leaves. Erin also mentioned some upcoming field days at the ISU FEEL demo lab located between Boone and Ames, Iowa. The first is the Crop Management Clinic (13-14 July), which features a number of different topics related to crop production and protection. The second is an all-day workshop on corn insects (29 July). We aren't sure why, but there are a lot of references to MMA fighters in this episode??

Redheaded flea beetle on soybean. Photo by Lewis Veith.