The larvae are greenish-gray and often curl up into a C-shape. However, it is not unusual to find army cutworm above ground when populations are high (Figure 1).
When scouting, it is critical to dig in the soil around individual canola plants to find the larvae. Army cutworms behave nocturnally and typically spend the daylight hours below ground. Scouting, accurate diagnosis of damage and cutworms, recommended nominal thresholds and knowledge of the insect are imperative to good management of these common insect pests. The economic threshold for chemical control is 1-2 cutworms per foot of row. Where infestations are high, army cutworms will remove all leaf tissue, leaving only the base of the stem (Figure 3).
When minor feeding is observed, you may find leaves severed from the plant and laying on the soil surface. Physical removal is effective in many cases. Seedlings are most susceptible to cutworm feeding. There are climbing cutworms that move up plants and feed on foliage, buds and shoots.
The larvae feed on the leaf tissue, leaving the plants with a fed-on appearance (Figure 2). Home Insects Yard and garden insects Cutworms Quick facts Cutworms get their name because they cut down young plants as they feed on stems. Significant army cutworm pressure has been observed in fields northwest of Caldwell in Sumner County.Īrmy cutworms feed aggressively and significant damage can occur in a short period of time. With the onset of warmer temperatures, winter canola is breaking dormancy and army cutworms are now present in fields across Kansas.
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