With financial support from the Virginia Soybean Board and federal funding for our state IPM program, our soybean scout Ed Seymore has begun to monitor about 30 soybean fields for soybean aphid and a new invasive pest species, the brown marmorated stink bug. From Aug. 2 to mid-August 2010, surveyed fields in the following counties had little to no soybean aphids: Augusta (0), Albemarle (0), Buckingham (0), Caroline (0), Charles City (0), Clark (0), Culpeper/Fauquier (1-5 aphids/plant), Gloucester (0), Goochland (0), Henrico (0), King and Queen (0), King William (0), Lancaster (0), Mathews (0), Middlesex (0), Orange (6-39 aphids/plant), Rockingham (0), and Shenandoah (0). The economic threshold for soybean aphid is 250 aphids/plant so these low numbers of aphids do not pose any threat at present. Very low numbers (about 1 per 15 sweeps) of brown marmorated stink bugs were detected in two soybean fields in central Culpeper County. Researchers are still trying to determine the extent and nature of brown marmorated stink bug feeding injury to soybean, but it will likely pose a risk if populations become established.
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