It is our sixth week of tobacco scouting, and this week brought a few changes. A small number of plants have shown signs of being infected with tomato spotted wilt virus, and budworms have made started making an appearance as well, mainly at our research station sites in Kinston and Rocky Mount.
Here is the week five scouting report:
Scouting Report , Eastern 1 – Grower Standard Field
| 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 | 0.02 beetles/plant – No treatment | 0 – No treatment | 0 – No treatment | 0 – No treatment | 8.4 thrips/plant 5% of plants infected with Tomato spotted wilt virus |
Scouting Report, Eastern 2 – IPM Field
| 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 – No treatment | 0 – No treatment | 0 – No treatment | 0 – No Treatment | 8.4 thrips/plant |
6% of plants infected with TSWV
Scouting Report , Eastern 3 – Grower Standard Field
| 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 | 0.06 beetles/plant – No treatment | 0 – No treatment | 0 – No treatment | 0 – No treatment | 37.4 thrips/plant |
Scouting Report, Eastern 4 – IPM Field
| 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 | 0.02 beetles/plant – No treatment | 3% budworm infested plants – No treatment | 0 – No treatment | 0 – No Treatment | 48.5 thrips/plant |
Scouting Report , Piedmont 1 – Grower Standard Field
| 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 | 0.06 beetles/plant – No treatment | 0 – No treatment | 0 – No treatment | 0 – No treatment | 3.3 thrips/plant |
Scouting Report, Piedmont 2 – IPM Field
| 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 | 0.06 beetles/plant – No treatment | 0 – No treatment | 0 – No treatment | 0 – No Treatment | 3.9 thrips/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 – No Treatment | 0 – No treatment | 10% budworm infested plants - No treatment | 0 – No treatment | 0 – No Treatment | 1.5% of plants infected with Tomato spotted wilt virus |
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 – No treatment | 2% budworm infested plants - No treatment | 0 – No treatment | 0 – No Treatment | 1% of plants infected with TSWV |
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 – No Treatment | 0.55 beetles/plant – No treatment | 0 – No treatment | 0 – No treatment | 0 – No Treatment | 0 – No treatment |
On Station, Rocky Mount – 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 | 0.08 beetles/plant – No treatment | 0 – No treatment | 0 – No treatment | 0 – No Treatment | 0 – No treatment |
Notes: Flea beetle sightings are down this week as the tobacco plants begin to mature, with budworms and thrips increasing.
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