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ARS Home » Plains Area » Fargo, North Dakota » Edward T. Schafer Agricultural Research Center » Sunflower Improvement Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #411022
Research Project: Sunflower Yield, Crop Quality, and Interactions with Biotic and Abiotic Stressors

Location: Sunflower Improvement Research

Title: Effects of early planting and early-maturing sunflower hybrids on damage from the red sunflower seed weevil

Author
item Prasifka, Jarrad
item VARENHORST, ADAM - South Dakota State University
item SIMONS, KRISTIN - North Dakota State University
item Cluever, Jeffrey
item WAGNER, PATRICK - South Dakota State University
item IRELAND, SAM - South Dakota State University

Submitted to: Meeting Abstract
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 12/6/2023
Publication Date: 1/10/2024
Citation: Prasifka, J.R., Varenhorst, A., Simons, K., Cluever, J.D., Wagner, P., Ireland, S. 2024. Effects of early planting and early-maturing sunflower hybrids on damage from the red sunflower seed weevil. Meeting Abstract.

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Management of the red sunflower seed weevil (Smicronyx fulvus LeConte), a primary sunflower insect pest, is currently characterized by a reliance on insecticides. Economic thresholds are established and used for weevil management, but seed weevil populations greatly exceed these thresholds for parts of South Dakota, leading some growers to apply insecticides as often as label guidance and local conditions permit. Seed weevil management is a greater concern today in South Dakota, but high populations have also been seen historically in North Dakota. Early planting and early-blooming hybrids are tools that have promise in reducing high seed weevil populations in the Dakotas. Trials in 2023 near Pierre and Sturgis, SD and Carrington, ND provide data on how early planting and early-blooming hybrids affect seed weevil damage, crop yield, and quality of oilseed sunflowers. Planting date trials also are being leveraged to collect additional data on weevil biology, including parasitism and spatial distribution of weevils that should help inform how to best use insecticides or other non-insecticidal tools. Though more insecticide options may become available to growers in 2024, establishment of non-insecticidal management tactics is the surest way to reduce weevil populations and preserve the effectiveness of approved sunflower insecticides.