Are there ways to anticipate the occurrence of black cutworms?
Because of the unpredictability of infestations of black cutworms, a plan of scouting for black cutworms and applying a rescue treatment (postemergence) only when necessary can save many growers money. If people are aware of cutworm activity in an area, they can prepare themselves for the potential appearance of the pest. In the past, we supervised a network of black cutworm pheromone traps to monitor flights of adults in the spring as they flew into Illinois from southern states. However, because of diminished resources, we have not been able to maintain this network. Therefore, we rely on reports from people who have placed pheromone traps in different areas of the state. If you are checking one or more of these traps for black cutworm adults, we would be grateful to receive the information so we can pass it on to others.
