–by Dr. Jeff Whitworth and Dr. Holly Schwarting
Still finding aphids in wheat throughout NC and SC KS. But in all fields sampled last week there were many lady beetles and mummies, indicating the beneficials are also very active. Spraying aphids will kill most of the aphids at the top of the plants– but won’t kill all the aphids down in the canopy just because the leaves in the canopy intercept the spray. But it will, typically anyway, kill all the beneficials as they move around searching for aphids to consume. Therefore, it is rarely a good idea to add an insecticide to a fungicide application to save application costs UNLESS the insecticide is warranted-not “just in case”