We have heard a few reports of either bean leaf beetles, grasshoppers, or stink bugs increasing in soybeans. As we start to approach the end of the growing season the larger concern with these insects is the potential for pod feeding, rather than foliage feeding. Pod feeding directly impacts grain quality. Crop stage is also an important consideration. Late-planted fields or double-cropped soybeans which are still green when other fields are drying down can be “trap crops,” attracting the insects that are leaving the other maturing fields. Such fields bear close watching.
