# Army Worm Cycle



## Troy Farmer (Jul 31, 2011)

Ok. I know this little nemesis gets a lot of mileage on the board this time of year But, I had my coastal sprayed Wednesday. Prevathon was the product used. I should cut in about 2 weeks. Then fertilize. The next full moon is on September 16 about mid way through my next coastal growing cycle. When should I spray again?
This is the first time I have fought the worms other than cutting and did know how treatment interrupts the life cycle- reinfestation.

BTW This board is a great resource and I appreciate the discussions.


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## Vol (Jul 5, 2009)

Troy Farmer said:


> Ok. I know this little nemesis gets a lot of mileage on the board this time of year But, I had my coastal sprayed Wednesday. Prevathon was the product used. I should cut in about 2 weeks. Then fertilize. The next full moon is on September 16 about mid way through my next coastal growing cycle. When should I spray again?
> This is the first time I have fought the worms other than cutting and did know how treatment interrupts the life cycle- reinfestation.
> 
> BTW This board is a great resource and I appreciate the discussions.


Dawg is the worm expert on bermuda here.....he will be along directly.

Regards, Mike


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## somedevildawg (Jun 20, 2011)

Vol said:


> Dawg is the worm expert on bermuda here.....he will be along directly.
> 
> Regards, Mike


Thanks for the accolades mike, but I'm not sure that's a good thing 



Troy Farmer said:


> Ok. I know this little nemesis gets a lot of mileage on the board this time of year But, I had my coastal sprayed Wednesday. Prevathon was the product used. I should cut in about 2 weeks. Then fertilize. The next full moon is on September 16 about mid way through my next coastal growing cycle. When should I spray again?
> This is the first time I have fought the worms other than cutting and did know how treatment interrupts the life cycle- reinfestation.
> BTW This board is a great resource and I appreciate the discussions.


Oh the life cycle of the dreaded army worm and what to do about it......
Sorry to hear you're having problems with them Troy. Down here, and probably there as well, we have a new pest, the dreaded stem maggot, much harder to control. But the army worm is a very easy pest to control, it just takes diligence. The chemical you used, Prevathon, is a very good insecticide....top of the line, suppose to give good residual. Another is besiege, again suppose to have good residual.....
But let's be clear, the army worm itself is a easy kill.....just about any insecticide will kill me dead....Karate, mustang, upcide, seven, Prevathon, Besiege....they all kill em dead....the difference in price comes down to residual and its effect on the population. Generally the moths are active on the full moon, least that's what the farmers almanac and many a farmer claims.....the main times we've had them here have coincided with hot dry conditions and while the full moon may have certainly had an effect, it is no replacement for riding the fields and scouting for the worms, whether it is a full moon, half moon, new moon or blue moon. But I do believe they seem to fly enmass and the cycle is a brief window. Which brings us to residual......the main advantage I see in residual would be if my timing were off for application, that is, I didn't hit the field when they were active. A week or two later and wham, if you had some rsidual.....but I'm not so sure about residuals and their effect on future populations.....to me, "the jury is still out". I had a good friend that sprayed Prevathon two years ago and said it was the best thing since sliced bread.....used it again the next year and the maggots and the worms wore him out.....he swore he would never use that "high priced crap" again.....I think there are so many variables with regards to residual that in some cases, you may be paying for "snake oil" but idk, like I said I think the jury is still out....it's very hard to quantify. 
My take is this....I know the aforementioned chemicals will all kill em deader than a hammer.....if I see an infestation of worms via scouting, I immediately fill the sprayer with 3oz of silencer (generic pyrethroid) to the acre and 18 gal to the acre. Every army worm and insect (benificials too) will be toast......I spray the whole field but I spray the infested area first, I want to see their ass wiggling in pain....I will usually tank mix dimillin (growth inhibitor) and silencer to spray the whole field....dimillin is suppose to offer some (30 days) of that illusive residual, but idk....at $3 an acre it's worth a try. Silencer is .75 an acre so for 3.75 per acre I have the best of both worlds (supposedly).....but, I wouldn't spray until I saw evidence of them, otherwise you may just be throwing money away and we all know the margins are just too tight to do that......
As example, I'll use myself and this year....in years past, I have always had army worms by this time of year.....stem maggots (fly) usually every other year.....haven't sprayed all year, and haven't seen any.....I'm knocking on my head right now  but I have silencer and dimillin ready to go and I ain't gonna break the bank and I bet you they will be toast.......but I ain't gonna spray until I see evidence, it does kill all the benificials too, something to be mindful of (unless you have an infestation, then kill em all and let the insect gods sort them out  ) good luck


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## Tim/South (Dec 12, 2011)

We have been spraying the last 2 days. Found them eating Johnson Grass and Fescue today. One Bermuda field had large and small worms. Another field had only small ones.

This has been a tough year for us to get a handle on the worms. Normally we are lucky and and not infested or catch them early and spray.

I keep enough permethrin to mix 1,000 gallons. When there is an outbreak this bad everything is sold out. Some got desperate and have been spraying Ivory soap and claims it works.

I will be checking very close in 10 days.

I was riding a sprayed field today and found Bermuda Stem Maggot damage. I am hoping the permethrin we sprayed to the worms will take care of the stem maggots.

Before and after pictures of the damage done overnight Monday.


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## somedevildawg (Jun 20, 2011)

It's truly amazing what kinda damage they can do to a field......I expect to see them any day now. 
The fly is so hard because the damage can be hard to detect in time to "save" a field.....this is where the residual (whatever they may claim) could help tremendously in controlling the maggots. Generally when you notice the field frosted, it's time to cut.......But it would still have to be applied as part of an overall maintanence plan and hope you time it right, that's the delimma.....spend a whole lot of money and miss-time and still have losses, double whammy....


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## Troy Farmer (Jul 31, 2011)

Thanks Dawg. Great info. Folks around here mainly have Bahia or don't fertilize so they're not bothered with the little beasts or in a lot of cases mr. Sunshine has cooked the field and there is nothing to eat. But my little patch of well fertilized coastal probably looks like a Golden Corral along the interstate.

Thanks again. There is just no one to ask around here.


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