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White butterfly with black markings on wings, resting on a green leaf.

Cabbage White Butterflies Are Here!

Keep an eye out for cabbage white butterflies in your garden. These butterflies lay eggs on the underside of the vegetable leaves. Once the eggs hatch, their caterpillars feed on cabbage, broccoli, Brussel sprouts, cauliflower, kale, turnips and radishes.

Seecorn maggot larva feeding on a seed in a field.

Seedcorn Maggot Degree Day Activity Estimates: May 20, 2021

Seedcorn maggots can be an early-season pest of corn and soybean in South Dakota, typically affecting crops that are emerging or have recently emerged. Seedcorn maggots can cause direct loss by destroying planted seeds.

Yellow wireworm on an orange sweet potato.

Wireworms in the Garden

With warming soil temperatures, overwintering wireworms have become active throughout South Dakota. Wireworms are soil-dwelling insects that can be pests of germinating seeds, seedlings and root crops.

Two rows of corn at V5 leaf growth stage looking down from above. Between the corn rows there are 3 separate cotton strips placed on the soil surface just before burial in a 2-inch-deep trench. The cotton strips are numbered for their identification after recovery at three different dates.

Cotton Strip Soil Test: Rapid Assessment of Soil Microbial Activity and Diversity in the Field

Soil has always been considered as a living system due to its biological components: fungi, bacteria and plant roots. Under several ongoing research projects, we started researching how we can use ‘cotton strip assay’ to compare different cover crop mixes to optimize field soil activity and build up better soil health.

Earthworms on the soil surface inside a white hard-plastic ring, after mustard-vinegar solution was drained down through the soil profile forcing earthworms out onto the surface in order to be counted.

How’s Life in the Soil? Ask (Count) the Earthworms.

Earthworms are ‘very special’ creatures on earth, and their contribution in soil nutrient cycling and fertility management has been acknowledged from the beginning of agriculture. So, the question needs to be asked, how can we help improve earthworm populations?

Water flowing from a drain tile pipe.

Nutrient Loss Calculator

Trying to figure out the nutrient loss in your tile drainage system? The Nutrient Loss Calculator can help. This useful tool helps landowners collect a snapshot of nutrient loss in their drainage systems.

Black beetles with orange or yellow spots feeding on a ripe tomato.

How Do I Keep Insects From Destroying My Garden Produce?

It is not unusual to see insects in a garden during the fall, but it can be frustrating to watch nearly ripe produce be destroyed by insects before it can be picked.

a grub on a tree branch that has the bark pealed off

Sioux Falls to Host Emerald Ash Borer Tree Injection Workshop

April 21, 2021

As the season for emerald ash borer treatments nears in South Dakota, state forestry experts want applicators in the Sioux Falls area to be prepared.

Green beetle larvae with a white stripe running down its body.

Alfalfa Weevil Activity Prediction Update: April 22, 2021

It was another cool week without a lot of degree day accumulations. With warmer temperatures in the upcoming forecast, the need to scout for alfalfa weevil activity will increase.

Purple-brown caterpillar with orange head on a green corn leaf.

Common Stalk Borer Activity Estimate: April 22, 2021

In its early vegetative growth stages, corn is susceptible to feeding by the common stalk borer. The hatching and movement of common stalk borer caterpillars can be estimated by using degree days.