Bill Cissel, Extension Agent – Integrated Pest Management; bcissel@udel.edu
Congratulations to Lisa Coven for identifying the insect in this past week’s Guess the Pest and for being selected to be entered into the end of season raffle for $100 not once but five times. Everyone else who guessed correctly will also have their name entered into the raffle. Lisa will also receive a FREE copy of A Farmer’s Guide to Corn Diseases. Click on the Guess the Pest logo below to participate in this week’s Guess the Pest! For Guess the Pest # 13, we will also be giving away A Farmer’s Guide To Corn Diseases ($29.95 value) to one lucky participant.
http://www.plantmanagementnetwork.org/book/cornfarmersguide/
Guess the Pest Week #12
Answer is….. Silver Spotted Skipper
Silver spotted skippers rarely cause economic losses in soybeans by themselves but their feeding does add to that being caused by other defoliators. Small silver spotted skipper caterpillars will cut two small slits in a leaf, fold it over, and stitch it together with silk forming a shelter. Larger caterpillars will fold a leaf in half and stitch it together or stitch a couple leaves together.
Conditions must be favoring silver spotted skippers this year because they seem to be more abundant. The threshold for defoliating insects in soybeans during vegetative growth stages is 30% and during bloom-pod fill: 15%. The threshold is based on a whole plant sample, not just the newest growth and includes damage from all insect causing defoliation. To accurately estimate the percentage of defoliation, randomly collect leaves from the entire plant, estimate the percentage of defoliation from each leaf, total from all leaves sampled and average to calculate the percent defoliation.
Guess the Pest Week #13
What insect caused this damage?
To submit your guess click the Guess the Pest logo below or go to: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfUPYLZnTRsol46hXmgqj8fvt5f8-JI0eEUHb3QJaNDLG_4kg/viewform?c=0&w=1
