By John Tooker
Insect populations are widespread, however, populations remain at low levels. Disease pressure also remains low.
Weekly Summary
Aphids, Japanese beetles, and grasshoppers are widespread but insects remain at low enough populations that they do not appear to be threatening yield in the fields that we are scouting. Only two brown marmorated stink bugs were. Only Union County reported a high level of grasshoppers. Disease pressure remains low with Septoria brown spot as the most widespread disease present. Downy mildew has become widespread in the past week but remains at very low severity levels. Lady beetles continue to be the most widespread beneficial insect.
For insight on scouting fields and what insects you can expect to find in soybean fields this time of year, please visit the soybean scouting video I made in collaboration with Pesticide Education Program of Penn State.
About the Reports
The Pennsylvania Soybean Promotion Board is funding a Soybean Sentinel Plot Program, which is being managed by Penn State Extension and The Dept. of Entomology at Penn State. In this effort, Penn State Extension Educators are regularly scouting twenty-two ‘typical’ soybean fields in sixteen counties across the state, reporting the populations of plant pathogens and insect pests that they find. In the reports below, pests that were found during scouting are listed with their severity, which is rated on a 1-10 scale with 10 being the highest. Growers should be sure to check their own fields to determine your local populations, but these reports will give you a sense of what pests are active in fields. Our reports are distributed via this weekly newsletter, Penn State’s Field Crop News, and will be available in the next day or two on Penn State’s Field Crop Entomology website
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