Fall Armyworm
Feature Story
Outbreak
in Virginia Turfgrass and a Quick Evaluation of Insecticide Efficacy for Control Virginia Tech Researchers • Tom Kuhar, Ph.D., Professor, Department of Entomology David McCall, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Department of Plant Pathology, Physiology, and Weed Science Adam Formella, Graduate student, Department of Entomology • Adam Alford, Ph.D., Postdoc, Department of Entomology Andrew Dechaine, Graduate student, Department of Entomology
F
all armyworm (FAW) (Spodoptera frugiperda) outbreaks have occurred this fall (2018) in Virginia in turfgrass and winter cover crops. Newer plantings of sod, warm-season turfgrass, and annual rye cover crops on agricultural fields were particularly damaged with fall armyworm densities exceeding 10 per square foot in some areas (Fig. 1). FAW outbreaks occur sporadically in Virginia, and often follow storm fronts from the South moving through in late summer, like we had this year. FAW is a tropical moth native to warm climate areas of the western hemisphere. While the FAW cannot successfully overwinter in Virginia, (Fig. 2) it is a strong flier with much of the eastern United States receiving migrating populations in late summer and fall months. This can occasionally result in very high populations such as those recently reported
22 | Virginia Turfgrass Journal
Figure 1: Fall armyworm on creeping bentgrass in Blacksburg, VA. Photo – T. Kuhar.