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Soybean tentiform leafminer spreads to Wisconsin soybeans
Wisconsin farmers are being encouraged to scout for a new soybean pest in the state.
University of Wisconsin Extension specialist Emily Bick tells Brownfield soybean tentiform leafminer was confirmed last week in north-central border counties to Minnesota.
“You’re going to find it acting like a leaf miner, so it’s kind of skeletonizing leaves,” she explains. “It’s so small and kind of transparent, see-through, yellow, whitish, but because of how small it is, it doesn’t actually pass through kind of the midrib or major veins, which tells it apart.”
The defoliating pest is native to North America and has been found on two wild legume hosts previously in Wisconsin. Bick says this is the first year it’s crossed over into cultivated soybeans.
“Step one is getting a sense of where along the state is this thing located,” she says. “Step 2 is really trying to figure out if it’s causing any sort of economic damage.”
The pest was also reported in Missouri for the first time last month.
Bick says soybean tentiform leafminer isn’t currently considered a threat to crops, but control measures would be similar to Japanese beetles if treatment was necessary.
The pest was first reported in the U.S. in Minnesota in 2021, and it has since been found in North Dakota, South Dakota and Nebraska soybeans.
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