Cereal Leaf Beetle

I was out scouting some wheat in Burlington County yesterday and found cereal leaf beetles, both adults and larvae. We need to keep an eye on fields for larval damage, especially when we get closer to the flag leaf stage. Most growers are familiar with walking through a wheat field and getting little black dots across their pants. Those little black dots are from the larvae of the cereal leaf beetle. The larvae will eat long strips of green tissue between the leaf veins and give the plant a skeletonized appearance. Yield reductions of 10 to 20 % are not uncommon in infested fields. Scouting and control information can be found in the Mid Atlantic Pest Management Recommendation Guide for Field Crops.

Bill Bamka