Scouting of fields where corn plants have emerged will help determine the presence or absence of black cutworm injury. Our predictions cannot project the amount of cutting that will occur, nor can they predict where cutting will occur. Scouting of seedling corn is the only reliable method for determining if a problem exists. Then, insecticides can be applied if needed. Begin walking fields now and looking for injury.
Problems are more likely to occur in fields with spring weed growth or in soybean stubble.
One of the first signs of a potential problem is feeding injury on corn leaves. Both black cutworms and dingy cutworms feed on young corn leaves, but the dingy cutworm rarely cuts corn because they are mostly leaf feeders. If leaf injury on young corn is found, try to find the cutworms to determine if they are blacks or dingys. The field should not have a cutting problem if only dingy cutworms are found. If it is determined that the field has black cutworms, then mark off 100 plants in a row with stakes or flags and scout these same plants for cutting over the next several days.