Producers Blog

Aaron Ahrenholz (Sales Agronomist, Region 2 – Minnesota)

Over the past few days I have been out in a few fields that have been experiencing higher than normal rootworm feeding in them. Although these fields are in different counties, there are a few similarities that have been found in each of these fields. They have been:

• Predominately corn on corn fields over the past 5+ years
• No use of a soil or in-furrow applied insecticide at planting
• VT3 or VT3Pro traits with no insecticide

I have also been seeing similarities in the fields in these areas that are not seeing any rootworm issues. They have been:

• Fields that have been on a corn/soybean rotation or a corn/corn/soybean rotation
• Use of SmartStax traits
• Have been following refuge requirements
• Have been using soil or in-furrow insecticides

If you plan on planting corn on corn on your farm next year, I would highly recommend looking into planting a SmartStax hybrid on these acres. If the hybrids that you have been using and like in the past are not available in a SmartStax and you want to keep planting them, I would then recommend using a full rate of insecticide on these acres. If you happen to be experiencing CRW issues on your farm, the use of SmartStax and a full rate of insecticide would then be advised. In all cases, following the refuge requirements for the trait that you are planting is also recommended.

Although this is not an ideal situation to be in if you have been having problems, the good news is that there are viable options available to us to use to help prevent this problem from occurring in future crop years.