Soybean Gall Midge Are Emerging Around Us, But No Captures in S.D.

Soybean throughout South Dakota have emerged and in many areas are reaching early vegetative stages. Last year, the soybean gall midge caused a lot of issues in South Dakota soybean, including lodging and up to 50% yield loss. In an effort to determine when soybean gall midge adults are emerging in 2019, a network of emergence traps has been established in South Dakota, Nebraska, Iowa and Minnesota.

Latest Observations

So far, emergence of the adult soybean gall midge have been reported from Iowa, Nebraska and Minnesota (Figure 1). To receive notifications of first emergence reports please email Justin McMechan with your name, cell phone number, or email address. You can also follow Adam Varenhorst and Justin McMechan on Twitter for up-to-date soybean gall midge information.

Black and white county map of South Dakota, Minnesota, Nebraska and Iowa. Red dots within counties indicate soybean gall midge emergence. Black dots represent trap locations.
Figure 1. Soybean gall midge monitoring network. Red dots indicate locations with confirmed soybean gall midge emergence. Black dots represent trap network locations. Updated June 24, 2019. Courtesy: Justin McMechan, University of Nebraska

Although, we haven’t observed any adults in our traps throughout South Dakota, we will continue to monitor the established traps, and we are interested in expanding our trap network to determine first emergence and subsequent generations. If you are interested in being a part of the soybean gall midge monitoring network, please email Adam Varenhorst.

Related Topics

Soybean Insects

Related Content

A soybean leaf infested with numerous soybean aphids.

Soybean Aphids Exceeding Thresholds in Some Parts of South Dakota

There have been a few fields this week that were infested with soybean aphids that are getting closer to threshold. We have also received reports of insecticides being applied to manage soybean aphids in South Dakota.

Multiple grasshoppers feeding on a corn ear.

Grasshopper Populations Continue to Cause Issues in South Dakota

Recent reports of crop loss along field edges indicate that grasshopper populations in some areas of South Dakota are well above threshold. Unfortunately, crops are often the target of these moving populations.

Green soybean leaf with small holes near the center and edges.

Redheaded Flea Beetles in Soybean

While scouting soybean this week, we noticed an uptick in redheaded flea beetle activity. In the fields that we scouted, defoliation levels were still very low at less than 5%.