by Mary Hightower
CNHI
Parson, Kansas —
Arkansans are finding more than clippings on their lawnmowers and less green in their pastures as hot weather encourages a grass menagerie of voracious insects.
"One lady told me late last week…when mowing at 8 a.m. her mowing deck was covered in worms," said Don Plunkett Extension staff chair for the University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture in Jefferson County in the state's southeast quadrant.
There's quite a collection out there: armyworms, bollworms, grasshoppers, stinkbugs, tobacco budworms, salt marsh caterpillars, wooly bears, loopers and three-cornered alfalfa hoppers.
"Right now we have one of the biggest flights and hatches of armyworms I've experienced," Plunkett said. "There have been many calls from homeowners and pasture folks about the green worms all over their lawn, walks, driveways and munching on hay and forage."
The story is the same in southwest Arkansas, said Joe Vestal, Lafayette County Extension staff chair for the U of A Division of Agriculture. He was seeing populations as high as eight to 10 worms per square foot as early as mid-July.
"Armyworms can destroy an entire field of bermudagrass within hours when a full-blown infestation is allowed to occur," Vestal said. "Bermudagrass is the favorite menu item for fall armyworm, but they will also eat crabgrass and many of the panicum species."
The panicum family includes switchgrass and millet.
The damage to pastures from armyworms is so severe, some cattlemen are selling off stock and hay production is low, agents say.
Vestal said he can't stress scouting enough.
"Growers who fail to scout their fields usually learn the hard way about how damaging this pest can be," he said. "If allowed to eat, armyworms can completely destroy an entire field, leaving only the grass stems."
Extension entomologists are finding tobacco budworms in soybeans along with bollworms.
Grasshoppers, a typical summer resident, have been bad in spots, Plunkett said. In one case, the grasshoppers hatched out from a grass-covered Arkansas River levee into a cotton field.
"The call to me came when the second generation came out a few weeks later and were working on the larger cotton stalks," he said. "The damage was nearly three-quarters of a mile along a levee.
"We often overlook the damage grasshoppers do to crops, but these images show the damage can really be severe," he said.
How bad is it?
"We're ready for it to quit," said Rick Thompson, Poinsett County Extension staff chair for the U of A Division of Agriculture. "That's what I'm hearing from farmers, consultants, everybody."
For information on crop production, visit www. uaex.edu, or contact your county Extension office.
The Cooperative Extension Service is part of the University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture and offers its programs to all eligible persons regardless of race, color, national origin, religion, gender, age, disability, marital or veteran status, or any other legally protected status, and is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Employer.
