Aphids populations have increased dramatically in small grains in southwestern Minnesota in the last week. University of Minnesota Extension Integrated Pest Management Specialist Bruce Potter says both bird cherry-oat and English grain aphids are starting to move from winter grains to one to two leaf spring planted small grains. He’s advising producers to scout for these pests.
He says the average economic threshold for aphids in winter wheat is 85-percent of the stems infested and some populations have reached treatment levels.
Potter says this is the heaviest early-season infestation he’s observed in small grains in the last 20 years in southwest Minnesota.
Potter says the aphids can move into corn and colonize later in the season, and based on this spring’s weather patterns could be a problem, so he advises producers to scout those fields for the insects. He says these aphids are a different species than the soybean aphids farmers normally see in-season.
