SOYBEANS
Many soybean fields are being treated for ‘loopers’ this year. There are worms in fields, but most are green cloverworms with a few yellowstriped armyworms, soybean loopers and even a few beet armyworms mixed in. Folks are seeing more leaf feeding than they are used to seeing and with the high bean prices, are pulling the spray trigger. My opinion is that in a great majority of cases, these sprays are not going to pay any benefits. Soybeans can stand a lot of leaf feeding, up to 30-40% up until blooming and 20% or so after bloom. People only ‘see’ the top leaves where most of the leaf feeding is occurring and are not inspecting the whole plant, so are greatly overestimating the problem. We recommend pulling a few plants and estimating the TOTAL leaf loss considering ALL the leaves on the plant. If you do this easy exercise, you may find that a field that looks bad may only have 5% to 10% actual defoliation.

If a field has been treated, the best advice now is to be sure to scout that field beginning about a week after the spray. Those treatments will have eliminated the beneficial insects so any corn earworm eggs laid after that time will have a near perfect hatch rate. That is, any treated fields are now at much higher risk for earworm outbreaks when pods start forming—and based on the diversity in corn field maturities, we are expecting LONG moth flight for at least 2 to 3 more weeks.

There are areas on the Eastern Shore that are experiencing high levels of beet armyworm in soybeans and we are hearing of a few in this area of the state. But the same principles apply. Treat beet armyworm as just one of the many possible leaf feeders and only spray if defoliation levels reach the recommended percentages.

KUDZU BUGS
As of this week, we have found adult kudzu bugs in soybean fields in 14 counties (Amelia, Brunswick, Dinwiddie, Greensville, Halifax, Henry, Isle of Wight, Lunenburg, Mecklenburg, Nottoway, Patrick, Pittsylvania, Southampton, and Sussex). My guess is that fields in many more counties are infested but we just have not had the time to check more. That will change. We have just added two more (three total) very competent field scouts to focus on mid-central and upper central counties. To date, no kudzu bug eggs or nymphs have been found. The folks to the south tell us that it is just a matter of time before we do. We will keep providing updates.

UPDATE ON CORN EARWORM PYRETHROID VIALS
Last week an average of 50% of corn earworm moths tested survived the pyrethroid treated vial exposure. So far this week, the rate has dropped a little to 44% (53 dead of 120 tested). More will be tested this week for next weeks report.

PEANUTS
A mix of corn earworms and a few beet armyworms are now showing up in peanut fields. Most or our peanut fields have A LOT of leaf canopy and can withstand A LOT of worm feeding before treatments will pay. Thresholds are set at 4 worms (corn earworm, beet armyworm, or fall armyworm) per foot of row. Few fields will actually reach these high levels. Many more will be treated with no real benefit.

COTTON
We are seeing more fields this week at the ‘old’ bollworm egg threshold which would trigger sprays on any conventional cotton not protected with Bollgard2 or Widestrike. BG2 and WS fields could benefit from a treatment by next week, at least according to what we have learned over the past several years of field research. If a field does not get infested with bollworms, and we do find some each year, be sure to keep checking for stink bug damage until the 7th or 8th week of bloom. Most fields are still in the most critical stink bug feeding weeks (3rd, 4th and 5th weeks of bloom) so need to be protected if internal boll damage exceeds 10% to new bolls. If bollworm sprays include a high pyrethroid rate, they will be also protect against stink bugs.