This article was written by Angie Peltier, Anthony Hanson and Jared Goplen, UMN Extension educators. UMN Extension soybean IPM scouts traveled across northwest and west central Minnesota completing another couple of weeks of data collection. When visiting each soybean field, scouts first sweep for grasshoppers in the grassy area next to the field and then begin walking in a zig-zag pattern throughout the field, stopping along the way to growth stage the crop and examine 31 plants for soybean aphids, aphids that have been colonized by parasitic wasps and spider mites. Growth stages. For the most part, soybeans in northwest counties were at the beginning seed (R5) or full seed (R6) growth stages, maturing more quickly than soybeans further south ( Figure 1 ). Further south, including in areas that have recently received rain, soybeans had all reached the full pod (R4) to beginning seed growth stages. Figure 1 . Growth stages of soybeans scouted between July 26 and August 6 as part
