Tobacco from our Piedmont site has grown noticeably over the past few weeks.
We are at week eighteen of scouting. Two of our eastern sites are almost done with harvesting, while harvesting continues at our other locations. None of our grower plots have hornworms or flea beetles above threshold, and hornworm pressure has definitely declined in our untreated on-station plots. Our Eastern 3 and 4 locations have low levels of aphid infested plants. At Eastern 4, 70% rates of parasitism were observed with only one plant having more than 50 healthy aphids per leaf.
Scouting Report, Eastern 1 – Grower Standard Field
Insect observation
No. aphid infested plants
Flea beetles per plant
Percent tobacco budworm infested plants
Hornworms per plant
Percent cutworm damaged plants
Other insects
Treatment needed?
0 – No treatment
1.98 flea beetles/plant– No treatment
0% budworm infested plants – No treatment
0 – No treatment
0 – No treatment
0.22 stilt bugs/plant - 0.04 lady beetles/plant
Scouting Report, Eastern 2 – IPM Field
Insect observation
No. aphid infested plants
Flea beetles per plant
Percent tobacco budworm infested plants
Hornworms per plant
Percent cutworm damaged plants
Other insects
Treatment needed?
0 – No Treatment
4.82 flea beetles/plant – No treatment
0% tobacco budworm infested plants – No treatment
0 – No treatment
0 – No Treatment
0.18 stilt bugs/plant0.02 stink bugs/plant
Scouting Report , Eastern 3 – Grower Standard Field
Insect observation
No. aphid infested plants
Flea beetles per plant
Percent tobacco budworm infested plants
Hornworms per plant
Percent cutworm damaged plants
Other insects
Treatment needed?
0.025 – No treatment
4.05 flea beetles/plant – No treatment
0% tobacco budworm infested plants – No treatment
0 – No treatment
0 – No treatment
0.025 lady beetles/plant0.025 parasitized budworms/plant
Scouting Report, Eastern 4 – IPM Field
Insect observation
No. aphid infested plants
Flea beetles per plant
Percent tobacco budworm infested plants
Hornworms per plant
Percent cutworm damaged plants
Other insects
Treatment needed?
0.025 – No Treatment
2.75 flea beetles/ plant– No treatment
0% tobacco budworm infested plants – No treatment
0 – No treatment
0 – No Treatment
0.15 stilt bugs/plant 0.025 lady beetle/plant
Scouting Report Piedmont 1 – Grower Standard Field
Insect observation
No. aphid infested plants
Flea beetles per plant
Percent tobacco budworm infested plants
Hornworms per plant
Percent cutworm damaged plants
Other insects
Treatment needed?
0 aphid infested plants – No treatment
0.775 flea beetles/plant – No treatment
0% tobacco budworm infested plants – No treatment
0 – No treatment
0 – No treatment
0
Scouting Report, Piedmont 2 – IPM Field
Insect observation
No. aphid infested plants
Flea beetles per plant
Percent tobacco budworm infested plants
Hornworms per plant
Percent cutworm damaged plants
Other insects
Treatment needed?
0 – No Treatment
2.34 flea beetles/plant– No treatment
0% tobacco budworm infested plants – No treatment
0 – No treatment
0 – No Treatment
0.16 stilt bugs/plant0.02 stink bugs/plant0.04 lady beetles/plant
Here are the scouting reports from the control plots for our experiments at the Upper Coastal Plain Research Station near Rocky Mount, NC and the Lower Coastal Plain Research Station near Kinston, NC. For some of these experiments, the control plots receive no insecticide treatments for the entire season. For some of the experiments, we are interested in only caterpillar pests so all plants in the experiment, including the control plots, are treated in the greenhouse with imidacloprid to prevent other early season pests.
On Station, Kinston – Control plants with no insecticide treatment
Insect observation
No. aphid infested plants
Flea beetles/plant
Percent tobacco budworm infestation
Hornworms/plant
Percent cutworm damaged plants
Other insects
Treatment needed?
0% aphid infested plants – No Treatment
0 beetles/plant – No treatment
0% budworm infested plants – No treatment
0 hornworms/ plant – No treatment
0 – No Treatment
0.015 parasitized hornworms/plant
On Station, Kinston – Control plants treated with imidacloprid
Insect observation
No. aphid infested plants
Flea beetles/plant
Percent tobacco budworm infestation
Hornworms/plant
Percent cutworm damaged plants
Other insects
Treatment needed?
0 – No Treatment
0 beetles/plant – No treatment
0% budworm infested plants – No treatment
0 hornworms/plant – No treatment
0 – No Treatment
0 parasitized hornworms/plant
On Station, Rocky Mount – Control plants with no insecticide treatment
Insect observation
No. aphid infested plants
Flea beetles/plant
Percent tobacco budworm infestation
Hornworms/plant
Percent cutworm damaged plants
Other insects
Treatment needed?
0.015 aphid infested plants – No Treatment
0 beetles/plant – No treatment
0.005% budworm infested plants – No treatment
0.045 hornworms/plant – No treatment
0 – No Treatment
0.2 parasitized hornworms/plant
On Station, Rocky Mount – Control plants treated with imidacloprid
