WESLACO- Some Rio Grande Valley growers are getting a warning on an expectant problem.

Texas A&M AgriLife Extension researchers said sugarcane aphids are already at the Valley, a month earlier than previous years.

Dannielle Sekula with the organization said they concluded pests showed up early because growers planted their crops a month earlier due to favorable conditions.

Sekula said sugarcane aphids appear during a certain stage of the grain sorghum development.

“A lot of my growers are going to start irrigating their fields because there’s just not enough moisture and it’s just so dry, and before they do that they need to check their fields and if they have sugarcane aphids. It’s very important that they go ahead and get in there and spray,” she said. “If they irrigate, the moisture is going to help have these sugarcane aphids, the population is going to just kind of take-off , and you’re going to get in the numbers like 500 aphids per leaf or 1,000 sugarcane aphids per leaf.”

Sekula recommended growers spray with either transform solution or sivanto to control the pests.