Soybean moth control – Bundaberg
by Matthew Leighton, Membership Services Extension Officer, Bundaberg Canegrowers
With the continuing dry weather soybean moth is again showing up in soybean crops across the Bundaberg district. Soybean moth is more prevalent in dry seasons and is found in greater numbers in blocks that are suffering from dry weather.
Looking from a distance it may look like the crop needs a drink, however on a little closer inspection you see some leaves turned upside down as shown in the 'distant' photo below.
On closer inspection you see more damage like the close-up photo below. Given the stage the crop is in currently the leaf damage will be visible until the crop matures.
The decision to spray needs to be made on whether there are numbers of larvae in the leaf or between the folded leaves. If the larvae have moved to the pupae phase they cannot be controlled as they are no longer feeding.
There is a permit to control soybean moth if the larvae can be targeted at the correct stage. Information about this can be found in these two Beat Sheet links from previous seasons:
- soybean-moth-causing-major-damage-in-soybeans
- soybean-moth-active-again-in-2017-in-coastal-queensland
In early 2017 some crops in Bundaberg where totally defoliated when the pest was not identified early enough. Please keep an eye out for this pest when going around your soybean blocks.
DAF Pulse crop entomologist Hugh Brier has prepared this list of Insecticides registered or under permit in soybeans as at February 2019.
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