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Introducing Field Notes, a new email update from the DATCP Pest Survey Program. Our purpose is to deliver results directly from our field surveys, inspections, and lab diagnostic work to your inbox. We have reimagined our reporting to offer a more effective way to keep you apprised of our survey findings.
Inside Field Notes, you will find links to the same pest monitoring data and maps you have become accustomed to seeing from DATCP, along with current, concise articles on economically important plant pests affecting Wisconsin’s field crops, fruits, vegetables, nurseries and forests. Our new format is tailored to meet the needs of busy staff and busy readers.
We are just getting started. Please be patient as this newsletter evolves and do not hesitate to let us know how we can improve our reporting service.
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Black cutworm moth | K. Hamilton DATCP
 
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A weekend weather system April 23-24 brought early flights of black cutworm moths northward into the state. DATCP’s 30 monitoring locations collected 29 moths, with a weekly high trap count of nine moths recorded near Leeds in Columbia County. Pheromone traps have captured a cumulative total of 53 moths since traps were set on April 1. Last season at this time, the count was 451 moths.
Spring cutworm migrations are monitored across several states to provide advanced warning of potential larval outbreaks in May and early June. Trap counts in Wisconsin, Illinois and Iowa have been very low this month. Monitoring data shown in the black cutworm ipmPIPE map indicates only a few traps have registered more than 10 moths to date. DATCP also participates in the Great Lakes and Maritimes Pest Monitoring Network, which offers cutworm migration data for a broader geographic area. The Great Lakes map depicts a heavier migration occurring to our east, with 17 of 59 Indiana traps registering significant captures (10-52 moths per trap) in the last two weeks.
A forecast of the peak seedling corn damage window for Wisconsin will be issued once the first significant moth flight is recorded. Counts for the state’s 30 trap sites are also published on the DATCP Black Cutworm page. |
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Spotted lanternfly | Rhododendrites Wiki
 
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Preemptive detection work for the invasive spotted lanternfly (SLF) is set to continue in 2022. Last year, surveys were concentrated in eight southern Wisconsin counties, including Dane, Grant, Jefferson, Kenosha, Milwaukee, Racine, Rock and Walworth. The effort included setting 21 traps and conducting visual surveys at sites with known infestations of the preferred host, Ailanthus altissima (tree-of-heaven). Spotted lanternfly was not detected in 2021.
Although SLF has not officially been found in Wisconsin, unconfirmed reports of dead SLF that “hitchhiked” by aircraft or in commercial and personal vehicles have been submitted to the DATCP SLF reporting portal and a lanternfly specimen was found last year in pallets at a Jefferson County facility.
Spotted lanternfly is one of the fastest-spreading exotic pests in U.S. history and has invaded 11 eastern states since first arriving in Pennsylvania in 2014. Established populations have been found in Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia, and most recently, southeastern Indiana. These infested states have enacted interior and exterior quarantines to contain SLF, and DATCP is considering establishing a similar quarantine to protect Wisconsin from this pest.
Early detection of SLF relies heavily on public awareness and reporting of potential finds. Any suspected SLF observations should be immediately reported to datcppesthotline@wi.gov or by calling 866-440-7523. Please include a photo of the specimen or a physical sample, noting the precise location of the find. |
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Eastern tent caterpillar web | K. Hamilton DATCP
 
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The earliest spring insect pests are beginning to emerge in apple orchards. Reports from DATCP's Apple Pest Monitoring Network cooperators indicate the first flights of spotted tentiform leafminer (STLM) and redbanded leafroller (RBLR) moths started two weeks ago, but have been suppressed by low temperatures. The high STLM count for the week ending April 28 was 50 at Burlington in Kenosha County, while Montello in Marquette County reported the highest RBLR capture of 36 moths. The spring STLM and RBLR flights will rapidly gain momentum once temperatures improve and trap counts are expected to increase markedly in the week ahead.
Also coming soon to orchards are the distinctive webbed tents of the eastern tent caterpillar. Egg hatch began in mid-April and the tents will become noticeable on apple, ornamental crabapple and wild cherry trees in the next 2-3 weeks. Removal of the small tents by hand or with a tool by mid-May is the suggested control. Remedies such as insecticide use, pruning affected branches or burning the tents to eliminate the caterpillars are discouraged. |
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 Spring 2022 | K. Hamilton DATCP
  After a warm and early start to the 2021 growing season, spring 2022 has felt abnormally cold. The month of April has offered fewer than five days of weather suitable for fieldwork, dashing hopes of an early planting window. Spring tillage in Wisconsin is currently three weeks behind last year and 11 days behind the five-year average, at only 8% complete.
A comparison of growing degree days (GDDs) in the last decade verifies that 2022 accumulations from January 1 to April 27 (using modified base 50°F calculation method) are indeed well below both 10-year averages and 30-year normals. Accumulations for 10 Wisconsin locations from Beloit to Wausau show a departure from normal ranging from 55-120 GDDs, which is equal to 11-23 calendar days at this time of year. Recall that GDDs accumulate slowly in spring when nightly temperatures often fall below freezing. Most of Wisconsin accumulates just 3-6 heat units per day in late April.
As an example, Madison has accumulated only 94 GDDs as of April 27. The 30-year normal for Madison is 177 GDDs. When the difference of 83 GDDs is converted to calendar days, it equals 17 calendar days (if 5 GDDs accumulate per day). At Madison, only two of the last 10 springs have been colder: 2013 and 2018. The same general trend also applies to the other nine Wisconsin locations listed in the table below.
In summary, current GDDs corroborate the perception that spring 2022 has been chillier than normal. For much of Wisconsin, it has been the third coldest January-April period in the last decade, behind 2018 and 2013. Growing degree days for 24 Wisconsin locations are provided on the DATCP GDDs page and will be updated each Monday and Thursday through September.
  
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Boxwood blight | Mina Vescera CCE Suffolk
 
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DATCP is cautioning landscapers, homeowners, and nursery industry personnel to watch for symptoms of boxwood blight this season, particularly when purchasing new boxwood plants. Inspectors have found this aggressive disease of ornamental boxwood plants at nurseries and retailers in Dane, Kenosha, and Portage counties since 2018. Last year, the Plant Industry Bureau Laboratory tested 47 symptomatic boxwood samples from 23 nurseries and retailers. Although all DATCP samples tested negative, one case of the disease was diagnosed by the UW Plant Disease Diagnostics Clinic on boxwood from a Milwaukee County residence.
Boxwood blight continues to pose a serious threat to the nursery trade and established landscapes. Anyone planning to purchase boxwoods this season should buy only from reputable suppliers, nurseries, and garden centers and closely inspect plants for symptoms. Isolating new plants from existing boxwood and pachysandra plantings for at least one month prior to installation is also urged. A complete list of recommendations is available on DATCP’s Boxwood Blight page.
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