Soybean producers should be aware of a new pest that is moving up the Piedmont through South Carolina into North Carolina this year; the kudzu bug. Dominic Reisig, Extension Entomologist and Asst. Professor of Entomology with NC State:
“We’re really worried about it because where it was introduced in Georgia it spread pretty quickly and the entomologist down there that have done the initial work measured something like a 19% yield loss across all the trials that they had. And so, we’re kind of the first state north that has major soybean acreage, we’re kind of really concerned about this major yield robbing pest that’s something that will affect agriculture and our state in general.”
Reisig gives a brief description of the insect:
“In Georgia they printed a fact sheet, and it’s got some pretty distinguishing characteristics if you’re really looking at it, but there’s really nothing else out there that looks like this insect. It’s square, almost flat, and for some reason when it dies, or is put in alcohol their wings kind of splay out. It’s got a distinct look to it, I guess. It’s really unlike anything that we have, yet it might resemble a stink bug.”
Reisig explains the movement of the pest last year in South Carolina, and what North Carolina soybean producers might expect this year:
“Previous to last week, we’d only found them on kudzu, and then there were a couple of legumes where they've been found them on in the state. Our situation looks kind of similar to what they saw in South Carolina last year. In South Carolina I believe they first identified this insect in three counties July last year, and then it spread pretty quickly to maybe half the state, and they saw it shift from kudzu onto soybeans last year. This year, we’ve kind of documented it spreading from one county to many counties, and I’m not sure if that’s the spread or just the fact that it hasn’t been documented, but last week it was found on volunteer soybeans. And so, it seems like they’ve already made that shift from kudzu which it seems to prefer to soybeans.”
Research out of University of Georgia has determined the economic threshold for this insect:
“The second thing is that growers should monitor the situation and scout it just like any other insect, and right now we have a preliminary threshold that’s based on some of the research that's been done in Georgia, and then there’s also some Chinese literature, and that’s about three bugs per plant.”
The good news is that these pests seem to respond to most insecticides:
“They seem pretty easy to kill with just about anything except for neo-nicotineoid insecticides.”
For a copy of the UGA fact sheet, click here...
Dr. Dominic Reisig can be contacted at (252) 505-2082
This Kudzu bug video was produced by the University of Georgia in September, 2010:
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