It’s time again for moth counts to be gathered and reported for counties throughout the Texas Panhandle and South Plains as a part of the moth trapping program funded by the Texas Corn Producers Board. Farmers will benefit from this project’s first-hand knowledge of pests in certain counties.

The checkoff-funded program gives farmers weekly updates on each participating county. This helps determine when an economic threshold has been met, informing farmers if and when pesticides may need to be applied.

Texas A&M AgriLife Extension agents in eight different counties are partnering with local farmers to collect data on pests in cornfields during the growing season. Although there are general trends in moth activity, there are always yearly variations in the timing each season. Providing weekly information to farmers about moth activity during the growing season will inform farmers of the extent of the threat these pests can be to their crops.

The moth traps were set in early June and will be counted by county agents until the end of August. Throughout the summer these counts will aid the decision-making process for pest management practices. TCPB will post the weekly trapping information on Twitter. Farmers should follow @TexasCorn to stay up to date.

Find out more about this and other research efforts funded by TCPB HERE

 

Here are the first few weeks of results: