Other methods Harold is trying include using more targeted insecticides, with the hope of killing moths but not hurting helpful bugs, like ladybugs, that like to munch on the pests. Other farmers are using drones to spray at night.
It remains to be seen whether any of this is working.
“We may be able to turn the corner,” Harold told CPR News in July. “If we don’t. I guess we’ll have a head-on crash.”
Nearly two weeks later, he said he’s in the same holding pattern.
Colorado State University Extension is one of several agencies trying to solve the corn growers’ worm problem. Entomologist Melissa Schreiner explained that it’s too soon to know whether the moth STD — developed by a Kentucky-based company called Lepidext — proves to be a “silver bullet.”
“By launching a product that would cause moths to become sterile, then they couldn't mate, females’ progeny wouldn't grow up” and thus the entire moth population would plummet — or at least that’s the hope, Schreiner said.
Lepidext is still testing Insterus, and both CSU Extension and Harold are only using it in a small area. Schreiner said the company may look at Olathe to do wider tests next year.
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