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“Sugarbeet Report” presented by NDSU Extension, features growing tips from NDSU sugar beet specialists and researchers.
This is the Sugarbeet Report, bringing you the latest information from NDSU throughout the sugar beet growing season. Sugarbeet planting is wrapping up, and producers are preparing for early season insects. Mark Botel, NDSU Extension entomologist, has the latest concerning these early season pests. Mark, now that most of the planting is done, what are the pest issues we should be concerned about?
Mark Boetel:For starters, we should be monitoring seedling emergence and development just to make sure everything's getting off to a good start. There certainly were some earlier planted fields this year. Those are gonna be more at risk of damage from some of the early season pests. They're gonna be, you know, one of the few green things out there. They're gonna be attractive to things like cutworms, and then early season pests like springtails and wireworms are always a concern also this time of year. We are seeing a little bit of cutworm activity in the Southern Valley, so that's something to watch for.
Bruce Sundeen:What are the best control options if a grower has issues with these pests?
Mark Boetel:With cutworms, foliar insecticides, the broadcast types work really well. The key is really catching them early, so just kind of monitoring fields as we all want to do this time of year anyway, just being vigilant about that. Cutworms are certainly very manageable. Wireworms and springtails are not the case. If you don't have control on it planting with either a insecticidal seed treatment or a at plant material of some sort, then you're probably gonna look at replanting those bad areas of the field.
Bruce Sundeen:Mark, let's talk about my favorite villain, the root maggot. What do you expect this year?
Mark Boetel:We always say that the previous year's results or activity can give us a good idea what to expect the following year. After a reduction in populations that occurred in 2024, we actually had some in direction of a resurgence of populations in 2025. The hotspots from 2025 certainly should be watched pretty closely in 2026 here. We have identified several areas of concern and risk with regard to root maggot populations for this year. In North Dakota, we're looking at Auburn, Bozemont, Buxton, Cashel, Reynolds, Saint Thomas, and Vesleyville. And then in Minnesota, Ada, Bora, Eldred, Lockhart, Rockwell, and the Glendon Sabin area are also at highest risk this year. We are gonna be doing our Sugarbeet Root Mega Fly Counts again this year, three days a week in collaboration with MnDak and American Crystal as well. We'll be posting those counts every three days, Monday, Wednesday, and Friday on our website so growers can see what's going on and where the hot spots are located.
Bruce Sundeen:Mark, even though it's early, have you been running your model for Peak Fly?
Mark Boetel:I did. I just looked at it this morning, and it suggests that we're probably running a little bit behind average on degree day accumulations, which probably isn't a huge surprise. We have had some pretty cool nights over the last few weeks. So about five days behind normal or average, and that suggests that we're maybe looking at peaks to push back from what they might normally occur between the eleventh, twelfth, June 13, and this is very early. I really wanna caution that that's a very early forecast that we would suggest that maybe June across the valley from south to north. That is way too early to really count on that as a firm forecast, but it gives us some idea when we need to start gearing up for managing root maggot fly populations. And I would just encourage people to watch for updates on Ag Radio, on the NDSU Crop and Pest Report, Sugarbeet Radio, and then the text alerts that occur from the coops as well.
Bruce Sundeen:Is there anything else to watch for?
Mark Boetel:Yes. Grasshoppers a little later in the season will be watching for the small ones. We're not super dry, but everybody could use a rain. But if it continues and we start drying off again, grasshoppers may be an issue. Another thing is we've been seeing a little bit of Aster leafhopper activity in the area, so we wanna watch the early Sugarbeet seedlings to see if we're getting any infestations in them. We did document a couple of years ago when Aster leafhoppers came up to our region atypically early, they did infest sugarbeets and they did transmit the yellows disease disorder to beet seedlings. They did seem to tolerate it okay or grew out of it sort of, but it's something we need to watch, and we would love to hear from anyone that does observe those pests in sugar beet.
Bruce Sundeen:Thanks, Mark. Our guest has been Mark Botel, NDSU Extension Entomologist. This is the Sugarbeet Report, bringing you the latest information from NDSU throughout the sugar beet growing season.