Southwestern Corn Borer Traps – June 4, 2021

Southwestern corn borer numbers have been very low (0-2 per trap) across the state to date.  We are not reporting the table of trap counts for each county this week, but will start posting county numbers next week.  One trap in Leflore county has reported high numbers the last two weeks (139 and 118), so there is the potential to have isolated locations with above threshold numbers.  This is much earlier than previous years.  This is a traditional “hot spot” for southwestern corn borer where we report high numbers every year.  The other traditional hot spots are still reporting very low numbers of moths, but that is expected to change over the next couple of weeks.

As a reminder, our threshold suggests spraying 7-10 days after trap counts exceed 50 per trap over a 7 day period prior to green silk stage.  This changes to 100 per trap after green silk.  Most of the corn from Hwy 82 north is just starting to tassel, so the lower threshold should be used.  Some corn south of Hwy 82 has already reached the green silk stage and the higher threshold should be followed in those fields.