I was out for a while this morning checking soybeans. We have many different growth stages throughout the county. Except for soybeans planted behind corn, most of our younger soybeans are now at bloom stage. Later planted soybeans are beginning seed development, about R5. So far, Asian soybean rust has not been detected in GA. One thing we are seeing is downy mildew (below). In some fields, yellow spots appear on the leaves. Sometimes under them, you will see some gray-brown ‘down’ where sporulation is occurring. This is not an economical issue of soybeans and we do not need to spray for this.
I noticed some leaves with caterpillar damage. From full bloom up to pod-fill, we treat when the leaf defoliation level reaches 15%. From the 2014 UGA Pest Control Handbook, it usually requires an average of 8 or more green cloverworms, loopers, or velvetbean caterpillars per foot row to cause this much defoliation.
Also, we’ve been seeing some adult whiteflies. We need to continue to monitor their progress. UGA Extension Entomologist Dr. Phillip Roberts says reports of whiteflies in Tift, Irwin, and a few surrounding counties so far.
Thomas County Ag 