Fall armyworm moths have gray-brown front wings with a white spot near the center of the wing. The fore wings of the male will have a white spot at the tip and near the center of each wing. Hind wings of both male are female are white. Fall armyworm moths are smaller than armyworm moths with a wingspan of 1-1/4 inches.

Fall armyworm moth

Adult moths generally first appear in late June or early July and will be present to frost. The moths move into Kentucky in progressive stages during the summer from overwinter sites along the gulf coast . Corn, sorghum, and other plants of the grass family are their preferred foods, but the fall armyworm also attacks alfalfa, bean, peanut, potato, sweet potato, turnip, spinach, tomato, cabbage, cucumber, cotton, tobacco, all grain crops, and clover. DNA tests have identified the strain of fall armywoms moths most captured in Kentucky as being pests of plants of the grass family. Fall Armyworm ourbreaks in Kentucky usually result in damage to pastures, hay, alfalfa and other grass crops. Eggs of the FAW are laid in clusters of 50 to 150 spherical gray eggs. Egg masses will usually hatch in 3 to 5 days.

For more information on Fall armyworms visit ENTFACT-110 Fall Armyworm in Corn, Scout Info -Fall Armyworm, and Managing Insects in Wheat: An Overview. For the current year trap counts and to see a current five year average graph for counts, visit the Fall armyworm insect trap graph page.

To view the data that includes temperature and accumulated degree days you will need Microsoft Excel®.

University of Kentucky Research Center, Princeton,KY

University of Kentucky Spindletop Farm, Lexington, KY

Insect trap data are provided for educational purposes only. Weather data provided by the University of Kentucky Agricultural Weather Center and Kentucky Mesonet. Weather data if used for legal purposes must be certified by NCDC, National Climate Data Center.