Written collaboratively by Shelby Pritchard, former SDSU Extension Pest Management Specialist, Philip Rozeboom, Erica Anderson, Patrick Wagner and Adam Varenhorst.
Assist with insect identification and management of pests in sunflowers throughout South Dakota.
Aster yellows is a phytoplasmal disease carried and introduced by aster leafhopper. It is known to infect over 80 different plant families, as the aster leafhopper has extremely broad feeding habits.
Red sunflower seed weevil adult activity is well underway on sunflowers in South Dakota. Even though the red sunflower seed weevil numbers are down, we are still observing populations in South Dakota that are above threshold.
While scouting spring wheat in Brookings County this week, we noticed grasshopper nymph populations that were close to threshold.