Some months back, we wrote about another set of insects that is currently becoming a scourge to corn growers in Luzon: the corn plant hoppers and their cousins such as aphids and grass derbids. These sucking insects are somewhat of lesser importance before but for some reasons, they have become very important. The problem is that farmers and even agronomists are not familiar with these pests and the appropriate control strategies.
For the benefit of our corn growers in Luzon, a control strategy devised by Pioneer to control the planthoppers is included in this article. We hope this guide can be of help to both farmers and agricultural technicians.
This month we will talk about another set of corn pests with a different way of inflicting damage on corn: defoliation. As we all know, any reduction in the leaf area results in lower photosynthetic output (food for the plant) since there are lesser tissues to capture the sun’s energy. Defoliation can starve the plant and hence, it results in lower yields and predisposes the plant to diseases.