We currently have good numbers of beneficials in fields and consideration must be given to conserving these natural controls. Plant bug treatments will have a negative impact on beneficial populations. Aphid infestations have been observed by scouts on isolated plants in some fields. In the coming weeks, aphid populations will continue to build and ultimately infest whole fields. During a recent scout school, one of the scouts questioned me concerning fire ants which were foraging on an aphid infested plant.
Fire ants are general predators and are of great value where bollworms are concerned.
However, when aphids are present, fire ants will feed on aphid honeydew which is high in sugar content. Fire ants will actually protect the aphids from other predators in an effort to increase honeydew production. Often we refer to the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly where fire ants are concerned. Fire ant populations are typically much higher in conservation tilled fields and hence we typically see aphid populations build to high numbers a few days earlier in conservation tillage fields. However, once the aphids crash due to a naturally occurring fungus, fire ants again provide good predation of numerous pest species.