The tobacco plants have grown quite a bit since the last scouting report. Photo: Cameron McLamb
Plants have grown quite a bit in the last week, likely due to increased rainfall. There were a couple of flea beetle sightings in our Eastern 4 IPM field, but most fields showed no increase in pest activity.
We have heard a few reports from fields in the southeastern part of the state with very small tobacco budworm larvae, but these fields are also far below treatment thresholds. It's also important to note that lots of things are out to kill small tobacco budworm larvae, including parasitic wasps and stilt bugs. Therefore, having small larvae in your field this week below threshold does not mean that you will have populations above threshold next week! You can create problems and unnecessary cost by treating an insect population too early!
Here are the scouting reports for week four:
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 – No treatment
0 – No treatment
0 – No treatment
0 – No treatment
0 – No treatment
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
0 – No treatment
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 – No treatment
0 – No treatment
0 – No treatment
0 – No treatment
0 – No treatment
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
0.05 beetles/plant– No treatment
0 – No treatment
0 – No treatment
0 – No Treatment
0 – No treatment
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 – No treatment
0 – No treatment
0 – No treatment
0 – No treatment
0 – No treatment
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 – No treatment
0 – No treatment
0 – No treatment
0 – No Treatment
0 – No treatment
In addition to scouting observations on farm this week and for future reports, we are including scouting information 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
0.05 beetles/plant– No treatment
0 – No treatment
0 – No treatment
0 – No Treatment
0 – No treatment
On Station, Kinston – Control plants treated with imidicloprid
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
0.025 beetles/plant – No treatment
0 – No treatment
0 – No treatment
0 – No Treatment
0 – No treatment
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
0.18 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
