Cooler overnight temperatures and brisk northwest winds curtailed corn earworm activity following last week’s remarkably large flights. DATCP’s corn earworm network reported a total catch of 1,405 moths in 12 traps for the week ending August 28, down sharply from 5,333 moths last week (August 15-21). A few trap sites still registered substantial counts of 200 or more moths, but most reported fewer than 70 moths. The highest individual trap count of 420 moths was reported from the Burlington monitoring site.
As of August 28, the cumulative nine-week total is 11,849 moths in 12 traps (average of 987 moths per trap). The heavy corn earworm moth flights during the latter half of the month signal a high risk of egg laying in sweet corn fields with green silks. Sweet corn growers are encouraged to continue monitoring fields and following DATCP’s corn earworm migration reports through mid-September.
