OVIPOSITION, EGG LOCATION, AND DIEL PERIODICITY OF FEEDING BY BLACK CUTWORM (LEPIDOPTERA, NOCTUIDAE) ON BENTGRASS MAINTAINED AT GOLF COURSECUTTING HEIGHTS

The black cutworm, Agrotis ipsilon (Hufnagel), is a common pest on gol f course putting greens, tees, and fairways. Little is known about the biology of the black cutworm in turfgrass. We investigated adult ovip osition preference, egg location, and 5th-instar behavior in creeping bentgrass, Agrostis palustris Hudson, maintained at 2 cutting heights. In a laboratory study, fertilized female black cutworms showed no ovi positional preference between 5- and 13-mm-tall creeping bentgrass. Mo st (73%) oviposition events consisted of single eggs laid on the termi nal portion of individual grass blades. Creeping bentgrass cut at 5 or 13 mm height grew at average daily rates of 1.7 and 3.2 mm per day re spectively. This suggests that most eggs laid on golf greens would be removed by standard practices of daily mowing and removal of grass cli ppings. In constructed turf profiles, 5th instars preferred to feed fr om burrows rather than exposed on the turf canopy, and these larvae ex hibited strong periodicity in nocturnal feeding behavior.