Four years after an unusual outbreak of true armyworm on Vancouver Island and in the Fraser Valley, BC Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Fisheries staff continue to monitor for the pest and other threats to the region’s forage crops. Provincial entomologist Tracy Hueppelsheuser noted that trapping caught just 10 true armyworm moths on Vancouver Island …
armyworm
Armyworm posing little risk this season
PORT ALBERNI – Researchers continue to look for answers to last year’s unusual armyworm outbreak on Vancouver Island and in the Fraser Valley while affected farmers remain vigilant against the pest. Seemingly out of nowhere, the very hungry caterpillars started chowing down on forage crops across southwestern BC last summer. In its moth form, true …
Island farmers grapple with armyworm infestation
PORT ALBERNI – A voracious new pest is marching its way through Vancouver Island forage crops. “I first saw them in early June when a neighbour came by with a jar full of them and said they wrecked his second cut,” says Bob Collins, a Port Alberni beef farmer and well-known contributor to Country Life …