Several Iowa farmers stumbled upon an unwelcome guest in their soybean fields this past season. Soybean gall midge, a relative of the hessian fly, brought a lot of yield damage and proved tricky to treat.
A research service plans to analyze the pest in depth throughout the upcoming growing, and hopes to find at least one control method.
AUDIO: Drew Clemmensen, Iowa Soybean Association
The Iowa Soybean Association – On Farm Network? claims ?Farmer observations are that early foliar insecticide applications seemed to suppress and reduce damage from soybean midge.?
Drew Clemmensen, southwest Iowa regional agronomist for the Iowa Soybean Association, says On-Farm Network? staff plan to follow up on such observations to determine which products help suppress soybean midge.
?This next growing season we have one protocol put in place to gain some understanding. It will be a foliar product that we hope to get out at a couple different timing intervals, for spring and see if we can start to get a handle on what is going to be effective at controlling this pest,? Clemmensen said.
Treatments include: Untreated control, early treatment, late treatment and a two-pass insecticide application.
The On-Farm Network? is seeking plots 250-500 feet in length and one sprayer pass wide. Clemmensen says treatment will be applied to field edges, where soybean midge tend to assemble and cause damage.
?That has historically been where the pressure points are, maybe even where 90 to 95-percent of the pressure is,? Clemmensen said. ?The treatments will then concentrate there. There will be an untreated pass and a couple different treatment passes. Then (we will) try to evaluate some kind of scoring system, (to determine) what is effective and what is not,? Clemmensen said.
Farmers wanting to participate in this trial can visit www.iasoybeans.com or email Drew Clemmensen at dclemmensen@iasoybeans.com.
