Insect alert!! Japanese beetles are here

In some areas, this may be old news. However in many pockets of Missouri and Western Illinois, Japanese beetles are arriving in masses. Below is a picture from near a beetle trap near apple trees at my home, and as you can see plenty of beetles are here. In corn, Japanese beetles typically are not a major issue until silks and tassels emerge. At that point, controlling Japanese beetles with an insecticide is much more important. Pollination can still occur with some silk clipping; however Japanese beetles can be very aggressive and usually treatment is warranted. These beetles release an aggregate pheromone to trigger more insects to the same feeding site. This is usually why Japanese beetles can be found in "hot spots" in a field. If you are considering applying an insecticide for Japanese beetles at tassel, fungicides like Headline AMP or Veltyma also make excellent tank mix partners.In soybeans, Japanese beetles are also very aggressive. They usually feed on whole leaves and consume the tissue between the veins (leaving a skeleton of a leaf behind). Soybeans have a better ability to compensate for feeding by insects. But, if feeding causes 20% or more of the leaf surface to be impacted during the reproductive growth stages, an insecticide treatment is warranted.