We diagnosed a very heavy spider mite infestation on a soybean seedling sample from the Northern Neck area but are not hearing of widespread problems…yet. Although some areas got some decent amounts of rainfall over the last weekend, some areas are still pretty dry with conditions very conducive to spider mite outbreaks. If treatments are needed, Dimethoate is likely the best product choice as it has efficacy against adults and immatures, and some systemic activity. But, according to one of the suppliers with Cheminova, it is important to be certain the product is newly manufactured and has been stored properly. If the product is old or has been exposed to extreme high and low temperature fluctuations, it can be ‘denatured’ which greatly reduces its efficacy.