As the data in the following table indicate, the winter of 98-99 was the third consecutive winter that has been unusually mild, based on number of days with below freezing temperatures, and there were only 4 days when minimum temperatures dipped to the 20 degree level or less. Winters this mild can have a substantial impact on producers insect control budgets and on budgets for boll weevil eradication programs. In last year's newsletter dated May 20, we erroneously reported that the number of days when the minimum temperature was less than or equal to 32 degrees F for the winter of 97-98 at MSU was 19. The correct number is 43. The two most commonly encountered species are the black cutworm, which is a dark colored greasy appearing larva, and the granulate or subterranean cutworm, which is light in color.
Cutworms feed on a variety of hosts.
The large larvae that one finds cutting cotton seedlings at this time of the season did not reach that size from feeding on cotton. Some species of cutworms overwinter as partly grown larvae. Others develop from eggs deposited early in the spring on weedy hosts. In either case, the cutworms found feeding on cotton usually began their development on some alternate host and then moved to cotton when that host was destroyed before planting. However, there are several generations per year, and cutworm moths do occasionally lay eggs on seedling cotton plants.