Soybean Looper Attacks In Louisiana Fields Start Overseas

By Don Molino, The Voice of Louisiana Agriculture Radio Network

The Louisiana Soybean & Grain Report

LSU AgCenter Extension Service entomologist Dr. Jeff Davis says they've been seeing a lot of insect resistance problems here in the mid-south as well as across the southeastern US.

"We've had calls about field failures and the majority of them were lack of satisfactory control," said Davis. "In the past we've had really good control with some of these (insecticide) products but the  last couple of years have been really rainy so that's when you see efficacy start to slip."

"And we've been working on how can we best handle that efficacy problem. So what we've been finding in our research is yes, there are (insect) populations showing up that are resistant to almost every mode of action that we have for soybean looper control," Davis points out.

"And what's happening is to remind producers those soybean loopers do not over winter in Louisiana.  We get our prooembs from the Caribbean and from Mexico.  It's not how we're managing them.  We just have to know when they end up in a field.  And if you see a product that didn't work let someone know so that we can confirm resistance andd recommend (to you) a diffeent product."