The European corn borer (ECB; Ostrinia nubilalis), has been an important pest of corn and other crops in eastern Canada for nearly a century now but is also known to be a sporadic pest in western Canada. Despite its name, ECB is actually a generalist feeder, having a wide range of hosts. With so many new emerging crops being grown in Canada that are also hosts for ECB (eg. hemp, cannabis, quinoa, hops, millet and others), there is no better time to look at this pest across the Canadian agricultural landscape.
To monitor for ECB nationwide, the Surveillance Working Group of the Canadian Plant Health Council has developed a harmonized monitoring protocol for European corn borer in both English and French. The project aims to generate real-time reporting and annual maps – access a full description of the project and list of key contact persons. The protocol can be used to report ECB eggs, larvae or damage in any host crop across Canada. This harmonized protocol has been designed to complement protocols already in use to make management decisions in order to generate data to compare ECB presence across all of Canada and across host crops.
When scouting corn, quinoa, hemp, millet, potatoes, apples, or other crops susceptible to ECB, the Surveillance Working Group of the Canadian Plant Health Council encourages the use of the harmonized monitoring protocol and reporting of the data from fields or research plots using the free Survey123 app (available for both desktop and mobile devices):
• Early to Mid-Season ECB Survey (Before July) – https://arcg.is/0qCCHH (applicable for use in eastern Canada).
• Later Season ECB Survey (July to Pre-Harvest) – https://arcg.is/fSODf (applicable for use in both eastern AND western Canada).