Fields decimated by ravenous insects might bring to mind images of biblical plagues of locusts, but across eastern Nebraska, another pest is leaving a similar trail of destruction; the fall armyworm.
Fall armyworms, (Spodoptera frugiperda) are a species from the southern U.S. that does not overwinter in Nebraska. Bob Wright-Nebraska Extension Entomologist, Nathan Mueller- Nebraska Extension Crops Educator, and Melissa Bartels-Nebraska Extension Crops Educator share that; as populations build up during the summer, moths fly north often reaching the Midwest later in the summer or early fall — hence their common name.