Armyworms Invasion Hits Home
By: Caroline Tucker
Updated: June 14, 2012
Parts of Western New York are battling an army invasion.
There are pesky caterpillars called armyworms which are now devouring up local crops.
They are turning up in farm fields from Hilton to Penfield.
"Spotty but not difficult to find if you start looking for it," said Walt Nelson, agriculture program leader at Cornell Cooperative Extension.
Walt Nelson searches through a hayfield in Penfield that a farmer called him about.
That farmer was just one of the calls he's gotten this month to help identify the invaders.
"That is them, that is the armyworm," said Nelson. "They move on a front and they are very efficient in taking out and eliminating everything behind them."
They eat grasses everything from hay to wheat.
He says the armyworms aren't uncommon but storms brought them too early in the season.
They usually don't arrive until late July, early August.
"This first generation when it comes up this quickly the predators the natural biologicals are not in place and these guys literally mow through grass," said Nelson.
On this land in Penfield, the farmer removed the pests' food before more marched in.
"With dry forage, the caterpillar is not interested in that and he is able to manage the critter without pesticide by mowing the hay," said Nelson.
But if you can't cut you may have to spray to stop the armyworms' surge.
Nelson said he expects the next life cycle of these armyworms to not cause as much damage.
Farmers can now report damage done by armyworms to their county Farm Services Administration.
If the FSA can document countywide loss of 30 percent or more of a single crop - the USDA may call for a disaster declaration.
A disaster declaration would allow an area to be eligible for low-cost loans.
