Dr. Katelyn Kesheimer, IPM Agent in Lubbock and Crosby counties, sent the following notification last night. Given the recent aphid discoveries in nearby Floyd county, and a new discovery this week in Lubbock County, it seems like the annual aphid incursion has begun, albeit at a slower pace than in years past.
“Yesterday I was in a field in northeastern Crosby County that had building populations of sugarcane aphids. It is in the same area that we first found aphids last year as they trickled in from the east and slowly moved west.
SCA colonies were a couple hundred at most and only on a few plants. I’ve attached a picture of one of the colonies – it’s mixed with adults, nymphs, and you can see the alates (winged aphids) starting to form. There was also honeydew on some leaves. Yellow sugarcane aphids were in the field as well and populations were starting to build. The field is at soft dough.
We didn’t have a lot of sorghum in our area at the beginning of the season, but with replants the last month there is quite a bit of young sorghum in addition to the acres that are already blooming.”
