November 25, 2025 • 7 mins
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
On the show. Right now, we've got Lynn Barry calling
(00:02):
in to have a bit of a chat with us,
and Lynn, you'd like to talk about the full Army worm.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
Yeah, yeah, so I thought we'd have a little chat
about that. There's a bit of maze going and now
down in Otago in Southland, which has not been a
traditional maze growing area, and a few people are trying
a bit of sweet corn on a bigger scale, including Ben. Yeah,
(00:32):
so we'll see how that goes. But there's this little
caterpillar or it was a moth actually got blind across
from Australia, thanks Australia as Yeah, I know the pain,
aren't they Back in twenty and twenty two, I was
first found up in the North Islands and when they
first found it by a security in zeal And tried
to eradicate it, but they discovered that it was too
(00:56):
well point yep. Because like, and the thing is that
if it's blown over here once on a storm, then
it's probably happened again. Because these little fellows are really
good at traveling long distances, and they travel long distances
and storm fronts, but they can travel up to one
(01:18):
hundred k in the night. The moths if they have to,
so they get around. So the problem is that they
attack maize and corn and some of our rye grass crops.
And if you're a Chinese cabbage grower up in the
North Island then that's initia as well. But in total
(01:41):
they can effect about seventy nine different species of plants
in New Zealands. So they originated over in Central Asia
and America where it's a bit warmer, and they've gradually
been spreading around. They do like it a little bit
warmer because part of their life cycle temperatures. A blow
(02:02):
seven to ten degrees, see, it stops part of their
life cycle and they and they die out. And a
good good hard for in the winter time can also
help that as well.
Speaker 1 (02:13):
So we've got a good natural defense at least for
part of the year for that, yes.
Speaker 2 (02:18):
Yes, for part of the year, because which is really good.
So the life cycle of this, they call it a
full army worm because the most damage that it creates
is in the autumn, and the Americans call autumn four.
So hence the full army womb. They there's four parts
of the life cycle. The old moth she hatches out
(02:42):
and they do that actually at nighttime, which is really interesting.
Between about two to three hours after sunset and they
and before midnight is when your moths will hatch out
and they fly around and they can lay. They lay
in little clusters on the underneath of leaves one hundred
(03:04):
to three hundred years and like little gray clusters underneath
the leap. But they can one moth can lay up
to potentially two thousand eggs in a night. That's pretty good.
Speaker 1 (03:18):
God, it's pretty impressive, because that was a question I had,
was how prevalent are they breeding or you know, obviously.
Speaker 2 (03:24):
Very pretty good, pretty good eggs hatch down after two
to four days, and then they have a six six
stage larvae cycle. And you can start seeing the damage
from those little larvae because you see little pin pricks
holes in the leaves. And then as they get a
bit bigger, they eat one side of the green stuff
out and leave the skeleton of the leaf right street
(03:48):
and then they start making big holes. And then they
move in to the top of the plant, you know,
your corn plant, where all your leaves and your and
your head comes out of the side of there. And
when they get to that stage, it's really hard to
control them.
Speaker 1 (04:05):
So they just decimate the crop basically.
Speaker 2 (04:08):
Yeah, just eats the top ut, they get down into
the corn or the maize, cops cobs and they damage
the inside of that. And they call it armyworm because
when you get a heck of a lot of them,
they actually move through the crop and absolutely decimate it.
They just eat everything in.
Speaker 1 (04:26):
Its past and just go on the march.
Speaker 2 (04:28):
Yeah, so that happens when you've got maybe up to
about five or six generations happening in the crop at
the same time. Then that's a long breathing session where
you've got good climatic conditions. But here in New Zealand
we might get two to three maybe four in a
really good season. Yeah, so in a lot of cases
(04:52):
it's not as extreme as some other countries. So you
can go out. Best thing most of the to go
out when your feedlings are starting to come out and identify,
monitor what's happening. Go and do some crop monitoring or
put out some pheromone traps and MPIs and a research
(05:15):
have got some really good information about the numbers in
the levels that we're looking for. Before you actually do
something about.
Speaker 1 (05:24):
It, you're right and can you what is it? Piece
asides anything we can apply to Yeah.
Speaker 2 (05:31):
It's too corong. Just attack. Really, if those numbers get
up and they're really really bad or starting to get bad,
you've got a chemical control. There's a barta which is
used for corn and maize and is also integrated peace
management where we've actually got parasitic wealth that will lay
their eggs and the caterpillar larvae, and we've got spiders
(05:55):
that will attack the larvae and eat them as well.
So we're wanting to not use a general purpose and
steep aside because you're getting all those good bugs as
well that help combat them.
Speaker 1 (06:08):
Yeah, a natural breed. It is what you need, isn't it.
Speaker 2 (06:10):
Yeah. Yeah, And they also talking about increasing biodiversity around
the edges of the crop paddocks as well, so then
that increases the number of good bugs that are around.
But the big thing, the most important thing to do
is get outside and have a look and do some lines.
If you've got rows doyen plants in a line and
(06:33):
then move one hundred or two hundred meters down the
paddicer both and do another line, or if you are
doing if you've got a paddicer, eyegraphs or it's a
covered crop then to make a w pattern and monitor
along those lines as well.
Speaker 1 (06:49):
Yep, yeah, that makes sense.
Speaker 2 (06:52):
Yeah, yeah, so that's just something else and something're.
Speaker 1 (06:55):
Watching out for, isn't It's just another test.
Speaker 2 (06:58):
Yeah, and now that we use thing made a lot
more down south because they've got varieties now that we
can get to grow and mature before we actually we've
got enough growing degrees days and we haven't got too
many frosts. Then that's possibly something that in the future
we're going to have to keep an eye out because
it is down in parts of Canterbury.
Speaker 1 (07:19):
Now all right, well let's not good. We'll have to really, yeah,
be vigilant. I'm looking out for that people, Heylen look
appreciate your time, run out of it again as usual.
Thanks for catching up and we'll catch up with again
later on.
Speaker 2 (07:32):
That's all right you guys, have a lovely day.
Speaker 1 (07:34):
Thanks Lynn
On the show. Right now, we've got Lynn Barry calling
(00:02):
in to have a bit of a chat with us,
and Lynn, you'd like to talk about the full Army worm.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
Yeah, yeah, so I thought we'd have a little chat
about that. There's a bit of maze going and now
down in Otago in Southland, which has not been a
traditional maze growing area, and a few people are trying
a bit of sweet corn on a bigger scale, including Ben. Yeah,
(00:32):
so we'll see how that goes. But there's this little
caterpillar or it was a moth actually got blind across
from Australia, thanks Australia as Yeah, I know the pain,
aren't they Back in twenty and twenty two, I was
first found up in the North Islands and when they
first found it by a security in zeal And tried
to eradicate it, but they discovered that it was too
(00:56):
well point yep. Because like, and the thing is that
if it's blown over here once on a storm, then
it's probably happened again. Because these little fellows are really
good at traveling long distances, and they travel long distances
and storm fronts, but they can travel up to one
(01:18):
hundred k in the night. The moths if they have to,
so they get around. So the problem is that they
attack maize and corn and some of our rye grass crops.
And if you're a Chinese cabbage grower up in the
North Island then that's initia as well. But in total
(01:41):
they can effect about seventy nine different species of plants
in New Zealands. So they originated over in Central Asia
and America where it's a bit warmer, and they've gradually
been spreading around. They do like it a little bit
warmer because part of their life cycle temperatures. A blow
(02:02):
seven to ten degrees, see, it stops part of their
life cycle and they and they die out. And a
good good hard for in the winter time can also
help that as well.
Speaker 1 (02:13):
So we've got a good natural defense at least for
part of the year for that, yes.
Speaker 2 (02:18):
Yes, for part of the year, because which is really good.
So the life cycle of this, they call it a
full army worm because the most damage that it creates
is in the autumn, and the Americans call autumn four.
So hence the full army womb. They there's four parts
of the life cycle. The old moth she hatches out
(02:42):
and they do that actually at nighttime, which is really interesting.
Between about two to three hours after sunset and they
and before midnight is when your moths will hatch out
and they fly around and they can lay. They lay
in little clusters on the underneath of leaves one hundred
(03:04):
to three hundred years and like little gray clusters underneath
the leap. But they can one moth can lay up
to potentially two thousand eggs in a night. That's pretty good.
Speaker 1 (03:18):
God, it's pretty impressive, because that was a question I had,
was how prevalent are they breeding or you know, obviously.
Speaker 2 (03:24):
Very pretty good, pretty good eggs hatch down after two
to four days, and then they have a six six
stage larvae cycle. And you can start seeing the damage
from those little larvae because you see little pin pricks
holes in the leaves. And then as they get a
bit bigger, they eat one side of the green stuff
out and leave the skeleton of the leaf right street
(03:48):
and then they start making big holes. And then they
move in to the top of the plant, you know,
your corn plant, where all your leaves and your and
your head comes out of the side of there. And
when they get to that stage, it's really hard to
control them.
Speaker 1 (04:05):
So they just decimate the crop basically.
Speaker 2 (04:08):
Yeah, just eats the top ut, they get down into
the corn or the maize, cops cobs and they damage
the inside of that. And they call it armyworm because
when you get a heck of a lot of them,
they actually move through the crop and absolutely decimate it.
They just eat everything in.
Speaker 1 (04:26):
Its past and just go on the march.
Speaker 2 (04:28):
Yeah, so that happens when you've got maybe up to
about five or six generations happening in the crop at
the same time. Then that's a long breathing session where
you've got good climatic conditions. But here in New Zealand
we might get two to three maybe four in a
really good season. Yeah, so in a lot of cases
(04:52):
it's not as extreme as some other countries. So you
can go out. Best thing most of the to go
out when your feedlings are starting to come out and identify,
monitor what's happening. Go and do some crop monitoring or
put out some pheromone traps and MPIs and a research
(05:15):
have got some really good information about the numbers in
the levels that we're looking for. Before you actually do
something about.
Speaker 1 (05:24):
It, you're right and can you what is it? Piece
asides anything we can apply to Yeah.
Speaker 2 (05:31):
It's too corong. Just attack. Really, if those numbers get
up and they're really really bad or starting to get bad,
you've got a chemical control. There's a barta which is
used for corn and maize and is also integrated peace
management where we've actually got parasitic wealth that will lay
their eggs and the caterpillar larvae, and we've got spiders
(05:55):
that will attack the larvae and eat them as well.
So we're wanting to not use a general purpose and
steep aside because you're getting all those good bugs as
well that help combat them.
Speaker 1 (06:08):
Yeah, a natural breed. It is what you need, isn't it.
Speaker 2 (06:10):
Yeah. Yeah, And they also talking about increasing biodiversity around
the edges of the crop paddocks as well, so then
that increases the number of good bugs that are around.
But the big thing, the most important thing to do
is get outside and have a look and do some lines.
If you've got rows doyen plants in a line and
(06:33):
then move one hundred or two hundred meters down the
paddicer both and do another line, or if you are
doing if you've got a paddicer, eyegraphs or it's a
covered crop then to make a w pattern and monitor
along those lines as well.
Speaker 1 (06:49):
Yep, yeah, that makes sense.
Speaker 2 (06:52):
Yeah, yeah, so that's just something else and something're.
Speaker 1 (06:55):
Watching out for, isn't It's just another test.
Speaker 2 (06:58):
Yeah, and now that we use thing made a lot
more down south because they've got varieties now that we
can get to grow and mature before we actually we've
got enough growing degrees days and we haven't got too
many frosts. Then that's possibly something that in the future
we're going to have to keep an eye out because
it is down in parts of Canterbury.
Speaker 1 (07:19):
Now all right, well let's not good. We'll have to really, yeah,
be vigilant. I'm looking out for that people, Heylen look
appreciate your time, run out of it again as usual.
Thanks for catching up and we'll catch up with again
later on.
Speaker 2 (07:32):
That's all right you guys, have a lovely day.
Speaker 1 (07:34):
Thanks Lynn
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