Temperatures in the 70 to 80 F range are good for aphids. On the plus side for grain growers is that the English grain aphid is still the most common aphid for the region in our wheat. It has been my experience that this aphid stays low in numbers until the heading stage. At that point, the population increases rapidly. Continue to watch for aphids in the fields and hope the numbers stay low for a while.
Cutworm activity is spotty, but definitely out there in the fields.
People who are reporting problems have indicated cutworms are in the to 1 inch size range. No control difficulties are being reported. Crops affected have included sugarbeets, sunflower, corn, and a few beans. The feeding has been above ground, though due to the size of some of the cutworms much of the feeding has been on leaves. There was one call this week from the Dickinson area about caterpillars in barley.