With continued dry weather, the pest we’ve been getting the most calls about is the spider mite. This is just a reminder that vigilant scouting for this pest is a good idea right now. It is also important to re-scout 5 days after treatment because many products will not kill the eggs, and populations can resurge. Any nescessary followup treatment should be made with a product with a different mode of action to reduce resistance development (so, for example, if you used something with bifenthrin the first time, you might switch to Lorsban the second time, or vice versa). This link will take you to the OSU publication on spider mites in soybean:
http://ohioline.osu.edu/factsheet/ENT-24
There are two miticides that are newly labeled for spider mite management in soybean and/or some types of corn: Agri-Mek from Sygenta and Zeal from Valent. We at OSU have not tested these products yet, but are currently running trials with both of them in northwestern Ohio. Thanks to all of our readers who helped identify suitable locations!