On August 11, 2021, an observant local agronomist found armyworm feeding injury in a brome stand in the Meadowlark Extension District. It would be the first of many calls and discussions lasting well into 2022, with damage done to some stands still discernible to this day.
That fall saw some of the heaviest feeding pressure noted in some time because of multiple factors that came together to make a bad thing a very bad thing. Drought that had been slowly spreading from the south and west across the state and reached Northeast Kansas after hay harvest. When armyworms arrived, there wasn’t a lot to feed on. Stands locally were drought stressed and struggling to put on foliage. With that tender forage one of the few things to feed on for miles to the west, combined with a heavy moth flight, stands across the area saw multiple rounds of feeding – and no weather for recovery until winter dormancy set in. Continue reading “Fall Armyworm Scouting Results – 2023”
