By Louis Sutton
AgVenture Regional Product Manager
Last weekend I started to see lighting bugs out, which is pretty early in the year compared to normal. There were not very many, but some were out and flying.
Why is this important to know? When you see lighting bugs and when corn rootworm hatch occurs are very close in timing. This means we could be seeing corn rootworm (CRW) hatch start soon in the southern areas of the U.S. and an early start in the north also. Since the corn is smaller with the later planting this year and less root development, we could be seeing more damage this year as the rootworms can overwhelm the traits and damage the roots, especially without the rootworms being resistant to the trait.
Start watching for lighting bugs in your area and be ready to scout for corn rootworms.
For more on corn rootworms, check out our recent post from AgVenture intern Brayden Evans.