If you enjoy unusual, distinctive names, it’s hard to beat “false chinch bug” and “Goss’s wilt.” But both can do a lot of damage to area crops, and both are showing up in South Dakota, according to the most recent issue of the South Dakota State University crop and pest newsletter.

False chinch bugs — so named to distinguish them from a related group of insects known as true chinch bugs — particularly like plants in the mustard family, which includes canola and radishes. The small, grayish insects feed by sucking sap from plants. The bugs are seldom a problem, but need be monitored this summer, at least in parts of South Dakota.

Goss’s wilt is a dangerous crop disease that damages plant leaves.  It’s most often associated with fields in which corn is grown year after year.

Le’s hope neither the insect nor the crop disease becomes a major problem in the region this growing season.