The Redwood gazette., 1937-07-22
Harm
Spotted; Loss
Exaggerated
SCATTERED FIELDS ARE
BADLY DAMAGED BY
CUTWORMS

set Redwood county farmers to
work Sunday swiftly cutting
small grains shortly before they
were fully ripened is believed to
be somewhat exaggerated.
Some farmers sustained heavy
losses from worms, but the in
festation appears to be spotted
and the general destruction ex-
pected Saturday when first re-
ports came out has not material
lied.
Sherman Park of Redwood
Falls township had a heavy dam
age to his oats from worms, esti-
mating so per cent loss in a 80
acre field. H. c. Schmidt on the
old Gold farm in that vicinity
also had a noticeable damage.
Hubert Whittet suffered about
a so per cent loss in one oat field
and John Brown of Paxton also
sustained a material damage. G.
E. Goodyear believed he'd lose
about 500 bushels from one field
but another field about 40 rods
away showed little damage.
The worms did not appear in
great numbers in any one district.
Certain farmers reported severe
distinctions while those with land
adjoining failed to see any but a
few worms.
According to County Agent j. I.
Swedberg the worms are not re-
gular army worms but variegated
cut worms. He has ordered 600
pounds of arsenic from the state,
to be mixed with a bran mash for
bait. Burrows are plowed around
the fields not yet infested, with
the earth thrown away from the
field and the mash placed at the
bottom of the furrow. Worms
travelling to uninfested areas thus
protected will go into the furrow
and be poisoned.
However according to informa-
ton received by Mr.. Swedberg
from University Farm Wednes-
day nature has provided her own
method for their determination
and control. Small cottony bunch
es of material found in infested
fields here were sent to the Uni
versity for Identification and
found to be wasp parasite, which
when developed will probably
destroy the worms. Most farm
ers believed them to be cutworm
eggs.
The parents of cutworms are
greyish or brownish moths or
"millers" which commonly are
attracted by lights during summer
evenings. Each moth may lay
700 eggs either in masses or
singly, usually in grass clumps-
After about 10 days the eggs
hatch into worms which live
about three weeks, feeding on
live cereals and grasses. In the
next stage, the worm burrows
into the ground and changes into
a reddish brown pupa, remains in
the soil for about two weeks and
then en1erges as the adult moth
which again begins the life cycle.
The worms in Redwood county
have appeared largely in oat
fields, stripping the stalks by eat
ing off the stem at the base Of
each kernel. In barley fields they
appear to have largely eaten of
the boards and as yet no reports
have come Of their appearance in
corn.
In Brown county, however, at
least one corn field has been in
tested and Redwood county farm
ers will use protective measures
to prevent the stripping Off corn
fields here. The arsenic will be
available either today or later in
the week and half ton of poison
mash for grasshopper bait win
also be distributed. Small hop
pers are infesting the county but
as yet only slight damage has
been reported.
The bumper crop of small
grains expected here will un-
doubtedly be cut some by worm
damage and shrinkage from early
cutting. Worms work on green
grain and seldom touch it in the
shock.
The cutworm does not travel in
such throngs as the regular army
worm although farmers have OBJ
served groups Of them travelling
slowly from cut fields across dirt
roads tn proWinp grain
Swedberg believes that perfect
weather conditions Matched eggs
already in the ground and that
the worms did not travel here
from another area. The last sim
liar infestation was IL years ago.