This is essentially a repeat of last week’s article because the situation has not changed, but my phone is ringing more. We are dealing with stink bugs, loopers, green cloverworms or a combination of all three in some fields. After a week of evaluating many test plots, my conclusions are the same.

• Pyrethroid insecticides used for stink bugs DO NOT provide adequate control of soybean loopers.
• The best treatments for loopers DO NOT provide adequate control of stink bugs.
• It will require a TANK MIX of two insecticides to control infestations of stink bugs and loopers.
• Common mixes would be either Intrepid, Belt or Steward with a pyrethroid insecticide. Tracer is also an option.  

  

As I said last week, you may get by with a reduced rate of Belt or Intrepid if you are tank mixing, but you do so at your own risk. I personally would not go below 4 oz of Intrepid, 1.5 oz of Belt or 5-6 oz of Steward if tank mixing with a pyrethroid insecticide.  The data below were collected this week.

Numbers of stink bugs, loopers and green cloverworm per 25 sweeps at 6 days after application (September, 2012).

The first point I would make about the above test is that the rate of Brigade is a little low.  This was intended to be a “cheapskate” test.  However, we would likely get better control of stink bugs if spraying whole fields.  There was a lot of plot hopping by adults in this small plot test.  Point two, even though numbers were not especially high, the reduced rates of Intrepid (3 oz) or Belt (1 oz) left some loopers in the field.  Everything wiped out green cloverworms, and even the Brigade or another pyrethroid insecticides would have done that.

The moral of the story … using reduced rates may buy you some time but insect control will be more inconsistent.  You can quit worrying about loopers at 10-14 days after hitting full seed (R6).  At R6, buying a little time may be good enough.  However, I’ll stick by my previous suggestions if fields are less mature.