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Field and Forage Crops |
Tobacco splitworms, more properly known as potato tuberworms, were not much of a problem in our tobacco crop during the first half of the season. Over the last three or four weeks, however, I have been getting reports of this pest from spots scattered around the Coastal Plain.
Splitworms, which mine between the upper and lower surface of leaves or tunnel into the stalk, are difficult to deal with this time of year. No insecticides are specifically labeled for this pest, and those that provide the best control can't be used due to lengthy pre-harvest interval requirements. Given this, the simplest approach may be to harvest away from the problem. Splitworm damage tends to slowly work its way up from the bottom of the stalk over a period of weeks and generations. If you can get ahead of this movement by harvesting all affected leaves plus a couple above that level, you might be able to get ahead of the problem. (This may be happening automatically for some growers as rain stressed tobacco comes off the stalk more quickly than we would like.)
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Last modified on August 23, 2004 by Stephen J. Toth, Jr.