Are Stink Bugs in your Soybeans

By Andy Michel and Kelly Tillmon, OSU Extension Entomology, adapted from C.O.R.N. 2020-27

As soybean begin to produce pods and seeds, it becomes a good food source for stink bugs. These insects like to feed on the developing seed, leading to wrinkled or shriveled seed.

There are many types of stink bugs, but Ohio’s most common stink bugs include the green, the brown and the brown marmorated.  Also, stink bugs have nymphal stages that can look very different than the adults—nymphs are smaller and lack wings but feed all the same, if not more, than the adults.  To look for stinkbugs, take a set of 10 sweeps in 10 different areas of the field (although stink bugs are mostly found along the edges, they can also be found in the interior of the field).  If the average number of stink bugs is higher than 4 per set of 10 sweeps, treatment is necessary (this decreases to 2 per set of 10 sweeps if soybean is grown for seed or food grade).  Visit our website for more information on stink bugs in soybean, including helpful guides for identification (aginsects.osu.edu).