The Fall Armyworm (FAW) Spodoptera frugiperda is a regular and serious pest of corn Zea mays in the southeastern United States.  In order to screen new corn hybrids for resistance to FAW, hybrids are either subjected to artificial inoculation or environments with heavy natural FAW populations.  For many years, tests for achieving FAW data have been sent from Iowa to Puerto Rico, North Carolina, or Georgia, where there has been a history of heavy natural pressure.  However, rising expenses and lost data due to hurricanes have become problematic.

Since the FAW flight usually arrives mid-July to early August in Iowa, I tested the hypothesis that delay-planting experiments would synchronize small corn plants with flight time and create a natural high-pressure screening environment representative of Southern locations.  Comparison of FAW data from various locations with data from Johnston for years 2002 and 2003 featuring transgenic lepidopteran resistant products, YieldGard-Corn Borer¹ (YGCB) and Herculex 1² (HX1), are presented.

¹ YieldGard is a trademark used under license from Monsanto Company.

  Herculex 1 insect protection technology by Dow AgroSciences and Pioneer Hi-Bred.

² Herculex is a trademark of Dow AgroSciences LLC.