Basic Insect Management : Field Crops Doug Johnson BASIC TRAINING FOR CROP PRODUCTION 2006 Integrated Pest Management Feb. 7 – Winchester Feb. 8 – Elizabethtown Feb. 9 – Princeton Entomology

Before you do anything else Make sure the pest is correctly identified!!

Many Ways to Organize Note the “ PAMS ” approach Adopted by USDA as ‘the” approach Likely to play a large role in goal setting, evaluation (and regulation?)

The PAMS Approach Prevention, Avoidance, Monitoring, Suppression IPM

Prevention Keep the pest out of the field! – Legislative; control movement of plant material and soil – Cultural; use pest free seed / transplants – Management; prevent weeds from producing seed – Mechanical; mow European corn borer staging sites in spring.

Prevention KY Examples Pest free transplants (Tobacco) – KY Production – Import restrictions e.g. plants from south? Reduce soil movement (soil insects) Pest free seed Clean equipment (especially in stored grains)

Avoidance Crop Rotation Planting Date Uniform Planting Maturity groups Nutrient Management Timely Harvest Avoidance of Loss of Value

Immigrant Insect Pests Alfalfa – Potato leaf hopper Corn + Grain Sorghum – Black cutworm, Fall armyworm Soybean – Soybean aphid Wheat – Grain aphids

Potato leafhopper Adults MIGRATE north in spring - lay eggs in alfalfa. Winter management techniques or severity not effective.

Avoidance Crop Rotation – Corn - corn rootworm

Avoidance Planting Date – Alfalfa –potato leaf hopper, fall seeding – Corn - corn borers, fall armyworm – Soybean - Soybean aphid, soybean podworm – Wheat - Hessian Fly, – Grain Sorghum - Sorghum midge

Avoidance Uniform Planting – Grain Sorghum – Sorghum midge – Tobacco – aphids and corn earworm (especially in seed production)

Avoidance Maturity groups – Corn – Fall armyworm – Wheat – Cereal leaf beetle – Soybeans – Soybean podworm – Grain Sorghum – Sorghum midge

Avoidance Nutrient Management – Soybean aphid and K deficiency – Aphids and over use of N 2

Avoidance Timely Harvest – Alfalfa – potato leafhopper, cut every 30 days Alfalfa weevil harvest to avoid spraying.

Avoidance Harvest to Avoid Loss of Value – Corn – corn borers - harvest before lodging. – Soybean – soybean stem borer, harvest before lodging. – Alfalfa – blister beetles, sell first 2 cuttings as blister beetle free.

Monitoring Crop Scouting Damage Assessment Trapping Modeling

Prediction (PAMS Monitoring [part]) Estimating occurrence of new pest. – Example soybean aphid Estimating occurrence of occasional pests – Example southwestern corn borer Estimating occurrence of annual pests – Example arrival of black cutworm or appearance of armyworm

Detection (PAMS Monitoring) Scouting (DIRECT) – Direct plant examination for pest or damage – Soil sampling wireworms, white grubs etc. Trapping (INDIRECT) – insect pheromone traps (many moths) – Sticky / color traps (aphids) Damage Assessment (AFTER THE DAMAGE)

Stems broken just a few inches above ground Notice the “beveled” edge of the stem You can not see a tunnel on either side of the break What will you probably see first?

Overwinter SWCB SurvivalYear SWCB Survival SWCB/stalk Caldwell, Henderson, Davies, Hardin Counties Four fields/county

Prediction (PAMS Monitoring [part]) Using: – predictive models, – weather / climate patterns, – traps example spore traps or insect traps, – sentinel or trap crops,

Monitoring leads to Decision Making Research based tools Experience based estimations

Economic Thresholds vs Economic Injury level ET EIL Time or Plant Stage etc. Number Of Pests -Or- Damage Level

How do we decide? Economic Injury Level (EIL) – The point at which the cost of injury becomes greater than the cost of control. Economic Threshold aka Action Threshold (ET) – The level at which action should be taken.

Economic Thresholds by Plant Stage ET Plant Stages Defoliation Seedling Vegetative Reproductive Maturity

For example soybean aphid on soybean Action Threshold is : – 250 aphids per plant, – Plants in V through R5 stages, – Provides one week to make application.

To use the threshold you must have data from the field Plant growth stage Number of insects present.

Suppression Biological Host Plant Resistance Mechanical Chemical

Remediation (PAMS Suppression) Biological (natural enemies) Cultural (planting date, host plant resistance) Mechanical (cultivation) Chemical (pesticides)

Natural Control

Biological Control Conservation – If you don’t spray when you don’t need to then you practice this! e.g. preservation of lady beetles, syrphid flies, parasitoids. Augmentation Importation (Classical) – Asian lady beetle

Host Plant Resistance Modern hybrid field Corn – DIMBOA (European corn borer) – Gray leaf spot resistance Soybean – Soybean cyst nematode resistance Wheat – Hessian Fly resistance

Mechanical Stalk / Stem destruction – Crown displacement - Soybean stem borer – Mowing staging sites - European corn borer

Chemical Active ingredients Synthetic Compounds – Many families Formulated Pathogens – Bacillus thuringensis, e.g. Dipel – Spinosad, e.g. Naturalyte, Tracer Botanicals – Nicotine sulfate Soaps and Oils

Chemical Deployment Soil applied Foliar applied Seed coatings Transgenic

So, Where Do They Fit? Where are they needed? Were will they work? Where are they economical?

Yield Benefit by Planting Date 7-Year Average Planting DateNon-Bt Tunneling (in) Yield, non- Bt (bu) Yield, Diff. (bu) Early – Mid April Late April Early –Mid May Late May Early – Mid June

Insects Controlled by Bt Corn ECBSWCBBCWFAWCRW YieldGard CB YieldGard RW YieldGard Plus Herculex Herculex RW Herculex Xtra ++

Traditional Corn Seed Treatments ‘Hopperbox’ Agrox Premiere Germate Plus Grain Guard Plus Kernel Guard Kernel Guard Supreme KickStart Lorsban SL

True Seed Treatments Seed Treatments (Ordered with seed) – Imidacloprid Gaucho extra(0.6 mg/kernel) Prescribe(1.34 mg/kernel) – Thiamethoxam Cruiser Extreme Pak(0.25 mg/ker) Cruiser Extreme Pak CRW(1.25 mg/kernel) – Clothianidin Poncho 250(0.25 mg/kernel) Poncho 1250(1.25 mg/kernel)

Insects Controlled WWWGFBSCMBCWCRW Gaucho Prescribe Cruiser Ex Pak Cruiser EP CRW Poncho Poncho

Immediate Plant Back 30-Day Plant Back 120-Day Plant Back 12 Month Plant Back

Making the Control Decision Rotation information – Corn after corn ? After pasture ? Planting Date – Very early - wireworms – Very late – corn borers Likelihood of Problems – Past problems ? Cost – Is rotation more cost effective? Equipment

Soybean Seed Treatment Test Results over three years In NO trial did any treatment ever yielded differently from the untreated check. In all cases insect populations were minimal. In no year was movement of plant virus important.

How many ways can you make a mistake? Treat when you don’t need to treat, – Lost cost of application & increased risk of environmental, regulatory burden Treat when you do need to treat, – Reduced your losses but at a cost, Don’t treat when you do need to treat, – Loss of potential yield / quality, thus income Don’t treat when you don’t need to treat. – Conservation BioControl

Secondary Outbreak Application Time or Plant Stage Etc.

Resurgence Pesticide Application Time or Plant Stage Etc.

Why does this happen? Insecticide applied Pest population declines, but can rebound Natural enemies crash and can not rebound

RESISTANCE Resistance has been documented in every class of insecticides involving more than 500 insect and mite species 56% are crop pests 39 % are med/vet pests 5 % are beneficial species Resistance is most common in... multivoltine pests – several generations per year pests exposed to multiple sprays each season or extended-release applications

RESISTANCE Tactics that will not work! Spray more often (or constant availability) Use a higher concentration of the pesticide These tactics may give some short term relief, but will cause the problem to get worse!!

RESISTANCE Not limited to pesticides Western corn rootworm in corn – Central IL, IN & OH – For years rotation mainstay of management – WCR now laying eggs in soybean!

Two General Impacts Short Term – will the treatment impact on the yield pay for the cost of treatment? Long Term – Will use of the treatment result in its loss, reduce its availability, increase its cost, or increase its regulation?

Management Summary Identify the problem Understand the problem Measure the problem Make a decision (or plan) Apply control tactic Evaluate tactic Modify or repeat as necessary