Insects

Here are five important points to help with flea beetle scouting and management: 1. Flea beetle damage can advance quickly. 2. Flea beetles will keep eating on cool days. 3. Spray can be effective on cool days, but not wet days. 4. Stem feeding can be more damaging than leaf feeding. 5. Seed treatments are less effective on striped flea…

Flea beetle pressure is quite high in many locations. Spraying may be necessary. If damage was quick and devastating, growers may face a reseeding decision. Early scouting is necessary to make sure the seed treatment provides enough protection…

Flea beetles feeding on pods is unlikely to cause an economic loss. Entomologists have not set thresholds for late season flea beetle feeding, but it’s generally believed that numbers have to be very high — perhaps 100 per plant — before economic losses occur. You may also note that flea beetles can be highly variable at this time of year,…