Fresh green leaves of early autumn plantings attract aphids and may lead to severe infestations. Later planting helps winter cereals escape population buildup of aphids in the fall. Plant spring oats as early as possible. Vigorously growing plants are more tolerant of BYD than are weaker ones. Large populations of aphids usually do not appear in Ohio until later in the spring.
Proper fertilization is necessary for good crop growth.
Plants with nutritional stress are more susceptible and yield less if BYD is a problem. Control volunteer wheat, barley and oats. Volunteer plants can be a problem in double-cropping systems. These plants can serve as important reservoirs of the virus for the next crop. Contact insecticides act directly on aphids, but have short residual effect and may not last long enough to protect the field from a subsequent influx of virus-carrying aphids.