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ARS Home » Plains Area » Fargo, North Dakota » Edward T. Schafer Agricultural Research Center » Sunflower and Plant Biology Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #225247
Title: Update on pest management of the banded sunflower moth in North Dakota

Author
item KNODEL, JANET - NORTH DAKOTA STATE UNIV
item Charlet, Laurence
item HUTTER, MICHAEL - NORTHERN AG MANAGEMENT

Submitted to: Meeting Proceedings
Publication Type: Proceedings
Publication Acceptance Date: 3/14/2008
Publication Date: 3/14/2008
Citation: Knodel, J.J., Charlet, L.D., Hutter, M.D. 2008. Update on pest management of the banded sunflower moth in North Dakota. 30th Sunflower Research Workshop, National Sunflower Association, January 10-11, 2008, Fargo, ND. Available: http://www.sunflowernsa.com/research/research-workshop/documents/Knodel_Moth_08.pdf

Interpretive Summary: The banded sunflower moth has been a consistent pest of sunflower in the northern Plains. Adults begin to emerge from the soil about mid-July and are present in the field until mid-August. Larvae feed in the florets, developing seed, and also destroy mature seeds. The goal of this project was to investigate the integration of management strategies to reduce both input costs and overall feeding injury caused by the banded sunflower moth in commercial sunflower fields. In 2006, fields were selected from both confection and oilseed sunflower that were either treated or untreated, and planted early (prior to mid-May) or late (late May to mid-June). The effect of treated and untreated sunflower fields, planting dates and sunflower type were compared by determining the percent of damaged seed within each sunflower field at different sampling distances from the field edge. There were significantly lower percent of banded sunflower moth damaged seed in treated fields compared to the untreated fields for both confection and oilseed sunflower. Results indicated that field spraying was successful in reducing damaged seed when populations of banded sunflower moth were moderate to high. Comparison of early versus late-planted sunflower fields indicated that early planting dates had a significantly higher percent of damaged seed than late planting dates for oilseed sunflower. Edge samples had significantly higher percent damaged seed than the 40 m and 150 m samples for both confection and oilseed sunflower. Manipulating planting dates to avoid moth egg laying minimized the damage caused by banded sunflower moth. Late planting sunflower fields into June could provide producers with a cultural control tactic to mitigate banded sunflower moth damage. This research supports the concept of integrating cultural control and insecticide control, which together can be used effectively to reduce banded sunflower moth damage in cultivated sunflowers in North Dakota.

Technical Abstract: The banded sunflower moth has been a consistent pest of sunflower in the northern Plains. Adults begin to emerge from the soil about mid-July and are present in the field until mid-August. Larvae feed in the florets, developing seed, and also destroy mature seeds. The goal of this project was to investigate the integration of management strategies to reduce both input costs and overall feeding injury caused by the banded sunflower moth in commercial sunflower fields. In 2006, fields were selected from both confection and oilseed sunflower that were either treated or untreated, and planted early (prior to mid-May) or late (late May to mid-June). The effect of treated and untreated sunflower fields, planting dates and sunflower type were compared by determining the percent of damaged seed within each sunflower field at different sampling distances from the field edge. There were significantly lower percent of banded sunflower moth damaged seed in treated fields compared to the untreated fields for both confection and oilseed sunflower. Results indicated that field spraying was successful in reducing damaged seed when populations of banded sunflower moth were moderate to high. Comparison of early versus late-planted sunflower fields indicated that early planting dates had a significantly higher percent of damaged seed than late planting dates for oilseed sunflower. Edge samples had significantly higher percent damaged seed than the 40 m and 150 m samples for both confection and oilseed sunflower. Manipulating planting dates to avoid moth egg laying minimized the damage caused by banded sunflower moth. Late planting sunflower fields into June could provide producers with a cultural control tactic to mitigate banded sunflower moth damage. This research supports the concept of integrating cultural control and insecticide control, which together can be used effectively to reduce banded sunflower moth damage in cultivated sunflowers in North Dakota.