By JACKIE TAYLOR | August 27, 2025

Pastures are the lifeblood of many a rancher and farmer in Linn County. Word has come that armyworms are decimating brome pastures in western Linn County.

Landowner Mary Gilkison, Centerville, said she watched as an actual army of armyworms crawled, hatched, etc. on her brome pasture and destroyed the crop in days.

Wishing to warn other landowners of the invasive movement of worms, research was pulled from K-State Extension.

K-State Extension reports, “The fall armyworm does not overwinter in Kansas in any significant numbers, but migrates northward annually from southern states. It usually arrives in Kansas in July where it lays eggs on corn, sorghum and other summer crops. 

There are typically two overlapping generations, with reproduction continuing through August and into September, putting early-planted wheat at greatest risk. In years with a late spring, when cold weather persists into April, both generations may be delayed so that second generation moths emerge too late to lay their eggs in developing sorghum heads, which are only attractive up to soft dough stage, and turn their attention to any newly emerging wheat.