Farmers each summer have to go to war against all kinds of threats to their crops, and Penn State Extension says one of those threats is showing up with increasing frequency.
Extension tests for pests affecting the corn crop in twenty sites across the state, two of them in Indiana County. The worm has exceeded the corn earworm threshold in eight counties, and the two sites in Indiana County are approaching the threshold.
The latest week for which data is available was the start of last week, when there were eleven corn earworms caught during tests at a farm in Brush Valley. A farm in Creekside had nine two weeks ago and five last week.
Farmers must treat their corn to attack earworms, either through biological, chemical, or organic control.
Extension also tests for European corn borer and for Fall armyworm, but those have not been evident in Indiana County, and in fact only a few have been found elsewhere in the state.
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