Here are two alerts from Michigan State University:

Western bean cutworm caterpillars found in corn in MI WBC caterpillars were found on corn by a Mycogen rep last week, in Benzie County (just below Traverse City). This makes sense when you look at a map. Benzie is on Lake Michigan across from Wisconsin. It is common for insects to be picked up on storms, carried over bodies of water, then rained out when the front hits land. WBC is present on the eastern edge of Wisconsin, and presumably moths were carried over 3-4 weeks ago, rained out, and now there are larvae. If you work in counties on the west side of MI, especially in corn near the lake, look for WBC larvae in ears.

Larval ID

• tan to pink in color (not stripey like earworm) and smooth in texture (not spiny)
• big = 2-3x larger than a corn borer when fully grown, around 1.5 inches;
• color pattern behind head: thin white stripe-brown bar- thin white strip-broad brown bar – thin white stripe
• broad lighter band runs down length of body.
• Larvae will often enter the ear through the SIDE of the husk, instead of the tip.
• May be multiple larvae per ear.

Nice pictures of damage and a larval close up:

Soybean aphid numbers in suction traps remain high in Michigan These was an aphid outbreak this year from Quebec to the Dakotas.

Suction trap catches of winged aphids have now dropped in other states. In contrast, in Michigan, NE IN, and NW OH there was not a widespread outbreak. We were like an aphid blackhole. Now, the aphid situation in the field – low numbers but aphids on many plants, few/ no predators – is reminiscent of an aphid population at the end of a NON outbreak year. In previous years, low aphid numbers in August leads to good fall survival and flight back to buckthorn, and a lot of eggs. Stay tuned, as we may have simply delayed our aphid pain until next season, and we may have the outbreak next year.

Dr. Christina DiFonzo
Field Crops Entomology Program
Michigan State University

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