By Mike Isbell
University of Georgia

Look at it this way: all those little brown dots that cover the
ground after armyworms have finished eating your yards and
fields
are worm dung — natural fertilizer. And you’re getting it for
free.

Of course, you no longer have a yard or field. That’s how bad
armyworms can be.

“From a distance, my pasture looks like it’s trying to walk
off,”
said a caller to my county extension office. He knew what the
problem was.

These green or brown worms can eat up pastures, hay fields and
yards faster than my cousins grabbed up all the deviled eggs at
my mother’s family reunion. They can literally turn acres of
fields, pastures or lawns into nothing more than stubs sticking
out of the ground. (That’s the worms, not my cousins.)

On the way out to the caller’s field, we met his son, who handed
me a quart jar with some of the caterpillars in it. It didn’t
take me but a second to tell John, “Yep, you’ve got
armyworms.”

What a few days ago was 45 acres of Bermuda grass pasture was
now
stubs. And you could see the armyworms by the thousands dropping
off the stubs onto the ground.

After armyworms finish one field, they keep marching on to other
fields. One farmer told me the worms ate all the grass in one
field and then crossed the highway on their way to another.
“There’s a big greasy spot stretching across the highway where
thousands of worms have been run over by cars,” he said.

The problem, which crops up every now and then, starts with
thousands of nondescript, brownish moths. The females lay
clusters of eggs on grasses and other food plants. The eggs
hatch
in two to five days.

The caterpillars feed for about 12 days and then pupate. Adult
moths emerge seven to 14 days later and are active mainly at
night. The entire life cycle is about a month.

The caterpillars are about an inch and a half long when
full-grown. They vary from green or tan to nearly black and
usually have an inverted white “Y” on their face.

Don’t expect the armyworms to go away with cool weather. Cooler
weather just increases the time the insect stays in the
caterpillar stage. And the longer it stays in the caterpillar
stage, the more it eats.

Quick action is required to control these pests. Spray hayfields
and pastures when caterpillar counts reach three per square
foot.

You can use Sevin, but some worms are resistant to Sevin, so
test
a small area before you spray the whole field. Otherwise, you
may
be wasting your time and money. If worms are dead after 24 hours
in the test area, then spray the whole field.

Homeowners can use several insecticides, including Sevin.

Don’t wait. Armyworms can eat your pastures and lawns to nothing
and then move on to something else to eat.

And just to be on the safe side, don’t stand still too long. And
don’t wear green.