Late May and early June lesser cornstalk borer infestations occur every year in Georgia peanut fields, but the incidence of these early season infestations has increase over the last few years. I received reports of LCB infestations from several consultants and county agents last week from across the state. Moth traps were also collecting large numbers of adult males in multiple locations. There are at least three common responses to the information presented above: <\/p>\n\n\n\n
1. Oh no! lesser cornstalk borers are here; I better go spray all my peanuts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
2. Lesser cornstalk borer? I’ve never had those. I don’t care.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
3. I need to scout my peanuts to see if any of my fields are at threshold for LCB and need to be treated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The third response is the correct one. Spraying for lesser cornstalk borer when they are not present is a waste of time and money. It can be difficult to find LCB larvae, and folks get nervous about missing them. The reality is, if you have lessers in a field, you will see silk tubes and moths (not just moths in a trap, but moths flying as you walk through the field). Even in high pressure years, not every field will need to be treated for LCB. We have the tools to manage this pest once it reaches threshold, and growers who use thresholds to make treatment decisions will <\/strong>save money. Our research has shown that catching large numbers of moths in a pheromone trap does not necessarily mean that a field needs to be treated; it does mean that the field needs to be scouted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ignoring lesser cornstalk borer is a major mistake. Some growers refuse to treat for them early in the growing season, and others get frustrated about spending money and decide not to treat when infestations occur later in the year. Early season infestations above threshold WILL reduce yield. Late season infestations WILL reduce yield and increase the risk of aflatoxin. Again, we have the tools to manage this pest…there is no need to lose yield or grade because of LCB.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Proper scouting is the key to making the best management decision. The best management decision is the one that results in the largest check in the grower’s pocket at the end of the season. Here is a link to a video we did a few years ago about scouting for lessers in early season peanut. https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=EAtivdqATV0<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n If you have questions about lesser cornstalk borer or other insects in peanut, contact your local UGA county Extension agent. <\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Late May and early June lesser cornstalk borer infestations occur every year in Georgia peanut fields, but the incidence of these early season infestations has increase over the last few years. I received reports of LCB infestations from several consultants and county agents last week from across the state. Moth traps were also collecting large […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":66,"featured_media":300,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,25],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-893","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lcb","category-scouting"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/site.extension.uga.edu\/peanutent\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/893","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/site.extension.uga.edu\/peanutent\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/site.extension.uga.edu\/peanutent\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/site.extension.uga.edu\/peanutent\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/66"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/site.extension.uga.edu\/peanutent\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=893"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/site.extension.uga.edu\/peanutent\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/893\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":894,"href":"https:\/\/site.extension.uga.edu\/peanutent\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/893\/revisions\/894"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/site.extension.uga.edu\/peanutent\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/300"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/site.extension.uga.edu\/peanutent\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=893"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/site.extension.uga.edu\/peanutent\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=893"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/site.extension.uga.edu\/peanutent\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=893"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}