Better hop to it!

Reports are coming in of small grasshoppers feeding in soybeans. Here is some food for thought before your beans become grasshopper feed.Grasshoppers have an incomplete life cycle. This means they hatch from an egg into a nymph. A nymph is an adolescent form of an insect that looks like the adult form of the insect, just smaller and without fully developed wings. Nymphs increase in size as they molt between instars before finally becoming adult grasshoppers.Don't be misled into thinking that small grasshoppers eat less, they can cause more defoliation than adults. Grasshoppers typically begin feeding along field edges first after entering the field from non-crop areas. Without wings, immature grasshoppers are less mobile than winged adults. According to Kansas State, the threshold for grasshopper inflicted defoliation is 40% defoliation prior to flowering. Once flowering starts, the threshold drops to 15% defoliation from flowering to pod fill. K-State also notes that, treating grasshoppers as nymphs is often more effective than waiting until they reach adulthood as smaller insects are more susceptible to applications and are more concentrated due to their limited mobility.

Keep a close eye on defoliation levels. Remember, at 40% defoliation it's time to hop to it and apply Fastac Insecticide for grasshopper control!