Each forewing has a noticeable white spot near the extreme. Larvae are about 30 to 40 mm in length when full grown, color varies from light tan or green to nearly black. But fall armyworm may also attack alfalfa, beans, peanut, potato, turnip, tomato, cabbage, cucumber, cotton, tobacco, and clover. Fall armyworms damage crops by foliage feeding and feeding on developing fruiting forms.
Whorl feeding in pretassel corn can be a problem with late plantings.
Larvae will also feed on developing ears. In cotton, damage occurs when larvae feed on developing bolls. Fall armyworm will also feed on developing soybean pods. Moths migrate into Georgia and infestations appear in July. Eggs are laid in masses of 50 to several hundred and are covered by fuzzy scales from the female moth.