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Army Worms are Marching in Food Plots: Now What?
If you have never dealt with army worms in your food plots, consider yourself blessed! Fall army worms are small caterpillars with dark bodies and light-colored stripes that are highly destructive and move from one plant to the next consuming vegetation along the way. Within a few short days, army worms can decimate the lushest food plot and make it look like a salad-loving plague is moving across the landscape.
With army worms, scouting your fields is crucial to saving the field before it gets totally wiped out. If you find them quick enough, you can spray things like diflubenzuron (Dimilin) or methoxyfenozide (Intrepid), which are both insect growth regulators. They work by controlling the life cycle of the small caterpillars. They will only be effective for a period of 7-10 days and will also need to be re-applied following a rain. Another option is pyrethroid products such as Mustang Maxx, Karate, and Warrior II. These have more immediate knockdown power but lack residual control and are also not rain-fast. More expensive options include Vantacor and Besiege, but they also have longer residuals that go up to 21 days at the highest labeled rate.
The best time to apply insecticides is late in the day. This allows army worms to ingest the chemicals while they eat into the overnight hours when they are more active. If your first application of chemical was rained on, you can spray a second application, but switching to a different mode of action will have better results than spraying the same insecticide twice. Make sure to take proper safety precautions when applying chemicals and follow all label directions.
The good news is that after cold temperatures set in, army worms become much less of an issue. The bad part is that we are burning food plot daylight in terms of the growing season. Of all our food plot options, Amazin’ Grains can be planted the latest into the growing season. I outlined my success with late-planted Amazin’ Grains in a previous blog.
Another thing you can do if you have some plants alive after the army worms are taken care of is to fertilize the plot. Putting down nitrogen fertilizer ahead of a good rain will help revitalize the stand so hopefully you have something for the deer to eat. Here is a handy fertilizer guide to know what each plot uses based on high, medium, or low soil fertility in case you didn’t have time to get a soil test done on your plot. Lastly, if you don’t have time to replant, you can consider setting up a supplemental feed site where the food plot failed. Deer are already using the area, and getting them the added nutrients from Ani-Supplement Gold will ensure your deer are in peak health going into the fall.
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