Source: NCSU COOPERATIVE EXTENSION, 6/28/22

Corn earworm (aka bollworm, podworm, tomato fruitworm) populations are much higher in corn than usual. Corn is a nursery crop for this pest and high populations in corn generally mean high populations later in the season for crops like cotton, sorghum, soybean. However, many other things can influence corn earworm survival, as they must complete development on corn, pupate in the soil, emerge, mate, and survive and develop on those crops during July and August. Therefore, while high pressure in corn is no guarantee that pressure will be heavy in other crops, we just need to think back to 2016. Heavy populations and high survival on Bt corn during 2016 year translated into major challenges in cotton. 2022 is shaping up the same so far. Read on to find out why and what should be done.

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