Damage in corn usually occurs within the first two weeks of planting and mainly in eastern Kansas. Identify the insect.

Damage in corn usually occurs within the first two weeks of planting and mainly in eastern Kansas. Identify the insect.

• A. corn rootworm
• B. black cutworm
• C. Japanese beetle
• D. wireworm

Answer: (B)

Early-season stand loss in corn is typically caused by a pest that Feeds on young seedlings at the base, severing plants at or just below the soil surface. The black cutworm fits this pattern best: its larvae attack seedlings soon after emergence and cut them off at the soil line, producing the characteristic “cut” seedlings you’d see within the first two weeks after planting. This kind of injury is also more common in eastern Kansas where spring conditions favor cutworm outbreaks. Other pests don’t match this injury pattern as well. Rootworms damage roots and affect the plant later in the season, not by cutting the seedlings at the surface. Japanese beetles feed on leaves rather than causing stem cuts at the base. Wireworms can injure seeds and roots but don’t typically produce the clean, at-soil-surface cutting of young plants that defines this scenario.

Early-season stand loss in corn is typically caused by a pest that Feeds on young seedlings at the base, severing plants at or just below the soil surface. The black cutworm fits this pattern best: its larvae attack seedlings soon after emergence and cut them off at the soil line, producing the characteristic “cut” seedlings you’d see within the first two weeks after planting. This kind of injury is also more common in eastern Kansas where spring conditions favor cutworm outbreaks.

Other pests don’t match this injury pattern as well. Rootworms damage roots and affect the plant later in the season, not by cutting the seedlings at the surface. Japanese beetles feed on leaves rather than causing stem cuts at the base. Wireworms can injure seeds and roots but don’t typically produce the clean, at-soil-surface cutting of young plants that defines this scenario.