Fast facts
- Fall armyworms being reported in lawns, soybeans, pastures
- Management information also in Extension fact sheet FSA7083, ‘Managing Armyworms in Pastures and Hayfields.” http://www.uaex.edu/publications/PDF/FSA-7083.pdf
Kami Marsh’s phone is ringing again and at this time of year, it’s because fall armyworms are grazing down lawns and pastures.
“I’m hearing from homeowners who are seeing large groups of these worms and they’re a little agitated,” said Marsh, a Faulkner County extension agent for the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture. “One day their grass is there. The next day it’s gone.”
As their name implies, these caterpillars appear in large groups. It often seems as if they appear overnight and in their wake, they leave bare ground where lawns and pastures used to be.
Newly hatched fall armyworms are light green or cream-colored with a dark head and measures about one-sixteenth of an inch long. As it grows, it becomes darker in color and the head has a light colored “Y”-shaped mark down the front. In addition, the next-to-last abdominal segment has four small dark dots. A fully grown fall army worm is about 1.5 inches long.
Morning and evening are the best times to scout for fall armyworms, since those are the times they are most active.
Source:uaex.edu