The corn flea beetle is the vector for Stewart's wilt and the occurrence of the bacterial leaf blight and wilt symptoms is dependent on the level of survival of flea beetles over the winter. The Bulletin provided a prediction of the potential for leaf blight as being light to moderate for Milwaukee, and trace to none for Madison and La Crosse. Thus the area of concern for 2000 will again be in the southern tier or two of counties. In 1999, there were adversely affected fields of sweet corn in those areas.
Flea beetles spread the organism by feeding on seedling plants.
Generally, hybrid corn has sufficient resistance to restrict the wilt phase. Thus in 2000, Ohio entomologists are suggesting the planting of hybrids with resistance to the wilt. Disease transmission . Flea beetles overwinter in protected areas adjacent to or within corn fields and become active when soil temperatures reach 65 F o . The bacterium overwinters in the gut of the insect and the beetles initiate the outbreak by feeding on seedlings in the spring.