Burke County Variety Trial Tour

The annual tour of the Burke County Variety trials is piggy backing with the Tri-County Range Tour this year of July 31^st. The range tour is being held from 9:30 to 4 at the Ray Atwood Ranch south of Lignite along County Road 11. Neil Riveland, Research Agronomist from the Williston Research Center will be at the variety plot site at 4:30pm to discuss the new varieties in the trials.

The plots are located on the south side of Highway 50, four miles east of Powers Lake, or one mile east of the junction of highway 50 and county road 11. Hope we see you there!                                                                  

Now What’s Eating the Sunflowers?

Sunflower maggot has been reported in several fields in the north central region recently.  It can be found by prying open the sunflower bud; dark brown spots on immature disk flowers may be observed.  The larvae are less than ¼” at maturity. The small, brown pupae are found in the face of the sunflower bud, usually surrounded by a small number of damaged disk flowers.  Adults of sunflower seed maggot have brown lace‑like wings, and emerge during the first week of July and lay eggs on the corolla of incompletely opened sunflower inflorescences. The total larval period is 14 days. The first generation pupates in the head; the second generation overwinters in the soil as pupae. Economic damage from the maggot is rare. The magnitude of damage to sunflower seeds by sunflower seed maggot larvae largely depends on the larval stage and seed development. Seed sterility occurs when newly hatched larvae tunnel into the corolla of young blooms; a single larva feeding on young flowers will tunnel through 12 ovaries. Mature larvae feeding on older sunflower heads destroy only one to three seeds.  Since economic damage is rare, there is no research on control of the adult, and control of the larva is impossible as it feeds inside the bud and would be untouched by an insecticide application.