They are small. They are slimy. And they eat through crops like a military force on a mission.
Armyworms have arrived in the Fraser Valley.
Common armyworm (or true armyworm) is the larval stage of the moth Mythimna unipuncta. The worms were in the summer, but in recent weeks some farmers have found them in the Fraser Valley from Delta to Chilliwack.
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Armyworms are voracious eaters with a particular penchant for hay and corn, something that could be a problem in the Fraser Valley given the proliferation of those two crops.
鈥淯gly as heck,鈥 is how Tom Baumann describes the worms. Baumann is an associate professor in the agriculture department at the University of the Fraser Valley (UFV).
鈥淲e do have them. I saw that first hand. We are trying not to point fingers and at this point have no idea why the outbreak. Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada are involved and I believe the Canadian Food Inspection Agency has also been contacted.鈥
Baumann said it鈥檚 the first time armyworms have been found in the Fraser Valley.
鈥淭hey are eating everything in their path, mostly grass,鈥 he said.
As recently as a month ago, an expert on the subject that the worms hadn鈥檛 made it to the mainland.
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鈥淲e don鈥檛 have armyworms in the Fraser Valley, we haven鈥檛 seen this happen to our hay fields so it seems to be fairly limited to this area of Vancouver Island,鈥 B.C. Ministry of Agriculture entomologist Tracy Hueppelsheuser said just over a month ago.
Abbotsford-based Hueppelsheuser was in the Port Alberni area in July talking to farmers and setting pheromone traps on farms to monitor the lifecycle of the moths.
鈥淸Armyworms] actually blow in from Mexico or the southern United States on wind in April or May and then the moths drop out of the clouds and find a nice lush patch of grass and lay a ton of eggs,鈥 Hueppelsheuser said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a little bit of a roll of the dice to know where they鈥檙e going to land.鈥
Neil Turner, who along with Arzeena Hamir, own Amara Farm in Port Alberni, an organically-run farm selling garlic and winter vegetables, said the infestation of armyworms is 鈥渧ery freaky.鈥
He said while farmers shouldn鈥檛 panic, there is cause for concern.
鈥淲hen you walk across the hay field, you can hear a 鈥榩op, pop鈥 sound with every step.鈥
Armyworms, but very rare in B.C., have not yet caused a lot of damage to crops in the Alberni Valley, explained Turner, but have made their way into the Port Alberni area, with several farmers reporting destruction of hay fields.
According to Manitoba Agriculture, armyworms feed on oats, wheat, fall rye, barley, forage grasses and field and sweet corn. Adults are moths that do not overwinter in the province, but move in from the south, and in some years can get to levels that can cause economic damage to crops.
To identify armyworm moths, Hueppelsheuser said they have a white dot on each of their wings.
- with files from the Alberni Valley News
paul.henderson@theprogress.com
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