Pheromone trap catches for corn earworms continue to be very low. Again, this is a time when growers can save a lot of money and time by monitoring their pheromone traps and not spraying. I harvested untreated sweet corn on Friday, July 31, and had over 98% clean ears and the few that were damaged had very few kernels fed upon and in 400 ears, we found not a single earworm. On the other hand, moth flights are likely to pick up any time between now and about August 20, based on 28 years that I have been monitoring their flights in Indiana. Regularly checking your moth catches will help you to know when the moths have arrived and when you need to increase your management activities. The treatment threshold now is 10 moths per night, because of the maturity level of field corn nearby.
