Weekly fall armyworm counts available online for the 2026 season

By Department of Entomology

Wednesday, May 27, 2026

Fall armyworms were a challenge for Kansas producers in 2025 and efforts to track this pest’s arrival and distribution across the state in 2026 will be ongoing. Pheromone traps to attract moths will be deployed at various locations across Kansas and checked weekly for the presence and number of moths at each location. In the short term, the purpose of these traps is to detect moths as early as possible in order to know when to start scouting for caterpillars in at-risk commodities. Remember, fall armyworm is a migratory pest from southern states with no fixed arrival date and female moths are ready to start laying eggs as soon as they show up in the state. In the long-term, multiple seasons of trapping data for fall armyworm will help to understand its seasonality and general distribution in Kansas over a growing season in order to better prepare for and manage this pest. In general, each year will be different and there is no guarantee that fall armyworm will reach outbreak status, but if so, trap counts could serve as an early warning system for abnormally high moth flights and subsequent egg laying.

Beginning this year, these weekly moth counts will be available to view online through a new partnership with the Great Lakes and Maritime Pest Monitoring Network. Instructions for navigating the website and viewing moth counts can be found below (Figures 1-4).

Landing page has menu at the top. From left to right, there is Welcome, Instruction and Moth Counts. Red circle around "Moth Counts".
Figure 1. From the landing page, left click “Moth Counts” (circled in red)
Using the Pest Filter, select Fall Armyworm
Figure 2. In the upper right region of the map, select the pest filter icon and chose “Fall Armyworm”.
Example map of Garden City with a dot on the map.
Figure 3. Colored dots will appear on the map for the selected pest.
Dot is highlighted with information on the Pest, Crop, Other Crop, Type of Trap Used, Lure Brand and more.
Figure 4. Left click the desired dot to view trap details and available weekly count reports.

Stay tuned for more updates on fall armyworm in Kansas as the season progresses. In the meantime, refer to the following publications for more information on fall armyworm management considerations.

Anthony Zukoff, Extension Entomology, Southwest Research and Extension Center
azukoff@ksu.edu

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