Watch Drought-Stressed Pastures for Fall Armyworms

While fall armyworm is a pest of cattle and horse pastures, it should not affect horses.
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Forage producers reseeding their drought-damaged pastures this fall will want to be on the lookout for fall armyworms as the new grass seedlings emerge, said Lee Townsend, PhD, extension entomologist with the University of Kentucky (UK) College of Agriculture.

"Fall armyworms feed at night and can destroy emerging grass and alfalfa stands in a very short period of time," Townsend said.

Each year, fall armyworm moths migrate to Kentucky from the South and begin laying eggs. Larvae hatch within three to five days. Fall armyworms are active beginning in mid-summer until the first killing frost. They feed on newly established stands of grass and alfalfa as well as late-maturing soybeans when no forage is available (as might be the case in drought-stricken areas of Western Kentucky). This year, the worms have already damaged some bermudagrass pastures in southern Kentucky. Fall armyworm moth captures in the Integrated Pest Management (IPM) traps at the UK Research and Education Center in Princeton jumped from zero the week of Aug. 2 to 549 the week of Aug. 16. Thus far, Lexington IPM traps have captured no fall armyworm moths.

"Initially, infestations begin slowly," Townsend said. "As emerging stands are becoming established, female moths will begin to lay masses of 200 or more eggs on grass blades. The small worms will hatch in a few days and start to feed

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