Rootworm insecticide performance

Two integrated pest management strategies are used widely to protect corn roots from corn rootworm injury: crop rotation and insecticides. If corn is not rotated, or if extended diapause northern corn rootworms occur in a field, a soil insecticide might be necessary to protect the roots in 2002. The reason we say it might be necessary is because many fields do not have a rootworm population of a sufficient size to cause economic damage. There are thousands of continuous cornfields across Iowa in which a rootworm insecticide is not used and is not necessary