A website from UGA Cooperative Extension

There are not many soybeans in the county, but there are some in the north end of the county. The soybeans that are planted, are ultra-late varieties. When planting this late it is important to keep in mind to plant maturity groups like VI, VII, or VIII. It is also important to increase seeding rate to at least 175,000 seed per acre and narrower row spacing for better yield potential.

The soybeans that were looked at were between R1-R2 stage (beginning and full bloom). At this stage in soybean, foliage feeders are prevalent. Fields should be scouted weekly for threshold on insect pressure. We have seen some high pressure of velvetbean caterpillars at this stage. A good product of choice is Dimilin+Boron at R2 stage soybean. Dimilin will be easy on beneficial insects in the field and boron has been shown to increase soybean yields at this timing before early pod set.

A rule of thumb for foliage feeding threshold is: Prior to bloom: treat when defoliation reaches 30%. After bloom: treat when defoliation reaches 15%. 

Scouting will also be important to monitor for Asian Soybean Rust. This disease overwinters on kudzu, and usually found each year. At the same timing of applying Dimilin+Boron, a preventative fungicide can be used for rust as a good strategy, and saving a trip. Products like Priaxor, and Trivapro are some examples of good choices. It will be important to continue to monitor for soybean rust afterwards. Sentinel plots can be found at https://soybean.ipmpipe.org/soybeanrust/ to see where the disease has been confirmed.

Here is a link to the 2019 Soybean Production Guide that has all the information and products a person could use to help with production and management. https://gasoybeans.caes.uga.edu/content/dam/caes-subsite/soybeans/docs/2019-Soybean-Production-Guide.pdf

Listed below are some pictures of velvetbean caterpillars, and a snapshot of thresholds for soybean insects. 

Foliage Feeding
Velvetbean Caterpillar
Velvetbean Caterpillar Moth