# Attended CE class, concerning Bermuda stem maggot



## somedevildawg (Jun 20, 2011)

Dennis Hancock, Phd, university of georgia, speaker.....Unfortunately no new news, pyrethroid applications staggered about 15 days apart..... early detection seems to be the best chance at controlling them. They are working on various baits, one is fish meal laced with insecticide, not yet proven.....so, proceed at your own risk....good luck


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## jdhayboy (Aug 20, 2010)

Last year I used lambda at half rate for armyworms. Either 2 or 4 oz an acre, can't remember. Its cheap. They are fairly hard to detect until you start dead tops on your grass. I personally try to detect them before I see damage. Which isn't easy to do, at least not yet. II've found it takes time and some patience to try to see if they are there. Not easy like finding an armyworm. About 10 days after I sprayed I went back into the field to see if there were any. Walking around, thinking I would stir them up, didn't see any. Kneel down in a few spots, get up, move and repeat, still nothing. So as I'm just standing there for a while looking around, I looked behind at where I had knelt down in the shin Bermuda grass i saw them. Buzzing around everywhere. They were attracted to my sweat I assume. Because it was hot and I was sweating pretty good. I was in shorts so that may have helped, not sure yet. I'll be experimenting more this year with detection methods and trying to determine infestation levels.


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## somedevildawg (Jun 20, 2011)

jdhayboy said:


> Last year I used lambda at half rate for armyworms. Either 2 or 4 oz an acre, can't remember. Its cheap. They are fairly hard to detect until you start dead tops on your grass. I personally try to detect them before I see damage. Which isn't easy to do, at least not yet. II've found it takes time and some patience to try to see if they are there. Not easy like finding an armyworm. About 10 days after I sprayed I went back into the field to see if there were any. Walking around, thinking I would stir them up, didn't see any. Kneel down in a few spots, get up, move and repeat, still nothing. So as I'm just standing there for a while looking around, I looked behind at where I had knelt down in the shin Bermuda grass i saw them. Buzzing around everywhere. They were attracted to my sweat I assume. Because it was hot and I was sweating pretty good. I was in shorts so that may have helped, not sure yet. I'll be experimenting more this year with detection methods and trying to determine infestation levels.


Good that seems to be the only real defense....some guys were experimenting with traps so as to get an idea of the population, UGA is thinking we need to spray as early as June ....I didn't see any until July of last year, but the other day I was walking through the field and seen some little flies almost the size of Mosquitos with wings that looks alot like them as well, it may have been smaller that an adult skeeter. Think it's the culprit, looks alot like the ones I saw last year, maybe I need to start spraying in June....my worries with spraying these pyrethroids on my fields is the non-discriminatory way it kills everything, so I guess if you start spraying, it would be a good idea to continue spraying as any natural predators are sure to meet the same demise....bait seems to be the most promising,,,,kinda like killing hogs I guess...


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