For those of us that work with corn rootworms, the most exciting time of the year has arrived. Larval injury has reached its maximum and the beetles are emerging. The first beetles that I saw this year were in east central Iowa on July 1. Usually when I return from the July 4th weekend, someone will call reporting that they saw a beetle over the holiday. This means that beetle emergence began about a week earlier than normal. Last year, rootworm development was at least a week behind average. Consequently, rootworm events will be about two weeks earlier this year than they were last year.