August 15, 2022
Mississippi pastures, hay fields and lawns are threatened annually by fall armyworms, and close observation and quick action are the only ways to successfully battle the pests again this year.
Keith Whitehead works in Franklin County with the Mississippi State University Extension Service. He said no one knows each year how bad the fall armyworm problem will be or when the insects will show up.
“They’re going to show up eventually. They always do,” Whitehead said of this potentially devastating pest. “It may be as late as September, but they move north from South and Central America.
“We talk to our Louisiana friends to get an idea when they start seeing them. When we get the coastal reports, we know they are a week or two away,” he said.
In 2021, the caterpillars showed up in hay fields the first week of June, which was earlier than usual. Many of last year’s armyworms were resistant to typical control methods, and growers had to spray with different chemical combinations to manage the pest in their fields. The early arrival of fall armyworms drives up costs to producers.
“When you have a longer period that you’re fighting fall armyworms, that means more treatments, and that means more out of pocket expense,” Whitehead said.
Effective control
Hay producers, pasture managers and home lawn owners can treat their land to effectively control these pests, but fall armyworms do not reside only in these areas.
“There are other places for these insects to be, like roadsides and non-farmed areas,” he said. “We’re not treating the whole county, just our production fields. Fall armyworms mature, pupate and turn into months, then return to our fields.”
Specialists urge land managers to be ready for the arrival of fall armyworms, which means watching for the earliest signs of their arrival and having chemicals on hand to treat for the pests.
Blake Layton, an Extension entomologist, said it is noteworthy that significant numbers of fall armyworms have not appeared in the state by the end of July.