Redlegged and differential grasshoppers have defoliated border
rows of cornfields in Crawford and Carroll counties in west
central Iowa. In some fields the damage started during July and
grasshoppers ate everything except the stalk, ear, and leaf
midribs, causing the plants to die by late August. Complete
defoliation extended five to seven rows into the field in some
areas. Grain yields will be reduced in these rows but little
could have been done to prevent the damage once the grasshoppers
moved into the tall corn. Insecticides would have been the only
option for control but getting spray equipment into tasseling-
stage corn to spray a few border rows would not have been
practical. Where significant grasshopper damage occurs, field
edges should be scouted during June next year for grasshopper
nymphs as they the feed on grasses and weeds. Control tactics
possibly could be implemented before the grasshoppers move into
the corn. |Field corn killed by grasshoppers in early September
2001 near Denison, Iowa.| This