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It’s not too early to scout for soybean aphids

A agronomist says it’s not too early to start scouting for soybean aphids.

Nick Roysdon with BASF works with farmers in Illinois and Wisconsin.  He tells Brownfield controlling aphids early can prevent considerable yield loss, and there’s data from Iowa State to back it up. “A really severe aphid infection can cause 40% yield loss. In a tough commodity year like this where every bushel counts, that 40%? That would be huge in a normal year let alone this year.”

Roysdon says finding aphids might start with noticing one or two dead or dying plants in the middle of a field.  He says a walk through the field will also give clues. “Sometimes you really have to turn the leaf over in order to look for them. When I scout and I find aphids, most often what I notice is actually the sticky stuff on your pants as you’re walking through the soybean canopy because that’s that secretion they produce, that sticky sap they produce after eating some of those plant sugars.”

Roysdon says multiple flushes of aphids are common every season, and they will keep coming if not managed correctly.  “Utilizing tools that have residual activity like Sefina is a really good tool for soybean aphid management.” 

Roysdon says aphids do develop a resistance to insecticides, but most of the soybean aphid pyrethroid resistance has been documented in South Dakota, Minnesota, and Iowa.  He says that gives other states an advantage of using additional controls to preserve the pyrethroids and slow down resistance.

Roysdon says Sefina from BASF is a new 9-D mode of action that only targets aphids and does not harm beneficial insects like pollinators and ladybugs, which eat aphids.

AUDIO: Nick Roysdon with BASF discusses crops and aphid control with Brownfield’s Larry Lee