News

Soybean Sentinel Plot Report: September 20, 2022

Pest populations in soybeans remain low, but white mold is increasing in some places.

Updated:

September 20, 2022

Figure 1: A senescing soybean field from Centre County with a dark patch of plants affected by white mold (Photo by Adriana Murillo-Williams, Penn State Extension).

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Summary of reports:

As soybean senescence picks up speed (Figure 1) and pests are becoming less relevant, we have only three soybean reports this week. The three fields have reached R7 so insects and pathogens pose little threat to the current crop, but it would be wise to determine if you have white mold present in some fields (Figure 1) as it tends to stick around and cause problems if ignored. For information on implementing IPM in soybean fields, see our recently published fact sheet on the topic.

Background on the project

This growing season the Pennsylvania Soybean Promotion Board is funding a Soybean Sentinel Plot Program, which is being managed by The Department of Entomology at Penn State and executed by Penn State Extension. In this effort, Penn State Extension Educators are regularly scouting about 25 'typical' soybean fields in about 20 counties across the state, reporting the populations of plant pathogens and insect pests that they find. Our goal is to inform the agricultural community about which pests are active across the state, so folks will have a sense of what to expect when they scout their own fields as part of an IPM program. It would be inappropriate to use these reports to justify insecticide applications.

In the reports below, pests that were found during scouting are listed with their severity, which is rated on a 1-10 scale with 10 being the highest. A severity score of 1 equates to 10% or less infestation or defoliation, a "2" aligns with 20% or less infestation or defoliation, and so on. Growers should be sure to check their own fields to determine your local populations, but these reports will indicate which pests are likely to be active in fields. Our reports are distributed via this weekly newsletter and are available via the Penn State Extension website (then search for "soybean sentinel plot").