For the week of July 20, 2009, Drs. Erin Hodgson and Matt O'Neal discuss the state of aphid populations in Iowa. Aphids are now well established in many fields but at low populations. We discuss factors that can contribute to the likelihood of an outbreak. Also, Erin and Matt make a joke about aphid perspiration.

Beginning in July, we have added podcasts to our site. A new podcast will be posted once a week during the growing season. In these podcasts will be updates on the status of the soybean aphid and insights into its management from research at ISU.

Please note the comment section added to each podcasts as well as the link 'Contact Us' in the upper right hand corner. Each of these are ways for you to ask Dr. Hodgson and O'Neal questions about soybean aphids and soybean pest management. We will address these questions and comments in future podcasts.

In this edition, Dr. Erin Hodgson is introduced. She is the new assistant professor in the Department of Entomology at ISU with extension and research responsibilities focused on corn and soybean production. Dr. Hodgson's Ph.D. was spent studying the soybean aphid and how best to scout for it. She describes some of the work she is doing this summer, helping growers manage insect pests in soybean fields.

First podcast about soybean aphids in Iowa and beyond

• The second edition of the Soybean Aphid Field Guide is now available electronically! Click on this link to see the full color guide. Soybean aphid field guide
• Soybean varieties are available that are resistant to the soybean aphid. Follow this link to a four page factsheet that will describe this new tool for preventing yield loss from the soybean aphid.
• Speed scouting is a sampling method to determine if a soybean field is at risk for yield loss due to an outbreak of soybean aphids. This method will help growers estimate if soybean aphid populations are reaching the 250 aphids per plant economic threshold. Follow this link to a computer-game exercise that will quickly train a scout how to use speed scouting.
• Initial insecticide evaluations for soybean aphid management:
  • 2013 Soybean aphid resistant varieties
  • 2012 Insecticide Evaluations for Soybean Pests
  • 2011 Insecticide Evaluations for Soybean Aphid Management
  • 2010 Insecticide Evaluations for Soybean Aphid Management
  • 2009 Insecticide Evaluations for Soybean Aphid Management
  • 2008 Insecticide Evaluations for Soybean Aphid Management
  • 2007 Insecticide Evaluations for Soybean Aphid Management
  • 2006 Insecticide Evaluations for Soybean Aphid Management
  • 2005 insecticide evaluations conducted by Soybean Entomology at Iowa State University.
• Soybean Aphids in Iowa -- 2007 This extension publication SP247 (PDF) presents an overview of the soybean aphids biology with management recommendations, including scouting tips and treatment options: updated during the spring of 2007.
• Plant Health Initiative Soybean aphid basics.
  Visit this site for a fuller description of the soybean aphids biology and distribution.
• Integrated Crop Management Newsletter articles on soybean aphids
  This list includes all of the ICM articles that feature the soybean aphid. Revisit this site for the latest information on soybean aphid IPM.

Specific topics regarding soybean aphid biology and management:

• Review of soybean aphid management tactics
  In this reprint from the 2005 ICM conference is a review of research conducted at Iowa State University regarding different management tactics for soybean aphid, including herbicide-insecticide tank mixes, seed treatments and the current recommendation.

• Speed Scouting for soybean aphid University of Minnesota entomologist are developing this streamlined sampling method that employs the 250 aphids/plant threshold.

• Aphid estimator
  Use this spreadsheet to calculate potential aphid population growth 7 days into the future using a temperature-based model.

• Soybean Aphid suction trap network
  Visit this site for weekly updates of winged soybean aphids caught in a network of suction traps deployed across the midwest. Winged aphids during the summer travel between and within soybean fields. In the fall (September to October), winged soybean aphids migrate back to buckthorn where they overwinter. Ongoing research is investigating whether these numbers are an indicator of successful soybean aphid overwinter and thus an indicator of the risk for outbreaks for the subsequent summer.

• SAILS-Soybean Aphid IPM on a Landscape Scale. This multi-state, USDA-funded project is designed to improve and integrate management of soybean aphid into Midwest cropping systems (soybeans, dry beans, snap beans, and others). Visit this site for quarterly research updates on soybean aphid management tactics including scouting, tank-mixes, and biological control

With aphids come lady beetles. Here is info on the most abundant aphid predator, the multicolored Asian lady beetle, a frequent home pest in the fall.

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